Important Programme/ Planning

List of government schemes in India

The ministries of the Government of India have come up with various schemes from time to time. These schemes could be either Central, state specific or joint collaboration between the Centre and the states. They are detailed below.

Scheme

Ministry

Date of Launch

Outlay/Status

Sector

Provisions

References

scheme

MoF

2007

Insurance

Scheme extends the benefit of life insurance coverage as well as coverage of partial and permanent disability to the head of the family or an earning member of the family of rural landless households and educational assistance to their children studying from 9th to 12th standard as an extended benefit.

scheme

MoF

May 9, 2015

Pension

Social Sector Scheme pertaining to Pension Sector

Bachat Lamp Yojna

MoP

2009

Electrification

reduce the cost of compact fluorescent lamps

Central Government Health Scheme

MoHFW

1954

Health

comprehensive medical care facilities to Central Government employees and their family members

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme

MoSJE

2003

Social Justice

Create an enabling environment to ensure equal opportunities, equity, social justice and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana

MoP

2015

Rural Power Supply

It is a Government of India program aimed at providing 24×7 uninterrupted power supply to all homes in Rural India

Digital India Programme

MoC&IT

July 1, 2015

1 Lakh Crore

Digitally Empowered Nation

Aims to ensure that government services are available to citizens electronically and people get benefited from the latest information and communication technology

Gramin Bhandaran Yojna

MoA

March 31, 2007

Agriculture

Creation of scientific storage capacity with allied facilities in rural areas to meet the requirements of farmers for storing farm produce, processed farm produce and agricultural inputs. Improve their marketability through promotion of grading, standardization and quality control of agricultural produce.

A cash incentive of Rs. 4000 to women (19 years and above) for the first two live births

Integrated Child Development Services

MoWCD

October 2, 1975

Child Development

tackle malnutrition and health problems in children below 6 years of age and their mothers

Integrated Rural Development Program

MoRD

1978

Rural Development

self-employment program to raise the income-generation capacity of target groups among the poor and The scheme has been merged with another scheme named Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) since 01.04 1999.

Scholarships for top Science students , Fellowships for pursuing PhD , Research Grants to researchers

Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana

MoST

1999

Scholarship program to encourage students to take up research careers in the areas of basic sciences, engineering and medicine

Livestock Insurance Scheme (India)

MoA

Education

Insurance to cattle and attaining qualitative improvement in livestock and their products.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

MoRD

February 6, 2006

Rs. 40,000 crore in 2010–11

Rural Wage Employment

Legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage of Rs. 120 per day in 2009 prices.

Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme

MoSPI

December 23, 1993

Each MP has the choice to suggest to the District Collector for, works to the tune of Rs.5 Crores per annum to be taken up in his/her constituency. The Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament can recommend works in one or more districts in the State from where he/she has been elected.

Midday Meal Scheme

MoHRD

August 15, 1995

Health, Education

Lunch (free of cost) to school-children on all working days

Namami Gange Programme

MoWR

March 1995

20000 crore for 5 years

Clean & Protect Ganga

Integrates the efforts to clean and protect the River Ganga in a comprehensive manner

National Literacy Mission Programme

MoHRD

May 5, 1988

Education

Make 80 million adults in the age group of 15 – 35 literate

National Pension Scheme

January 1, 2004

Pension

Contribution based pension system

National Scheme on Welfare of Fishermen

MoA

Agriculture

Financial assistance to fishers for construction of house, community hall for recreation and common working place and installation of tube-wells for drinking water

National Service Scheme

MoYAS

1969

Personality development through social (or community) service

National Social Assistance Scheme

MoRD

August 15, 1995

Pension

Public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want

Pooled Finance Development Fund Scheme

Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana

MoRD

July 23, 2010

Model Village

Integrated development of Schedule Caste majority villages in four states

Achieve 4% annual growth in agriculture through development of Agriculture and its allied sectors during the XI Plan period

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana

MoHFW

April 1, 2008

Insurance

Health insurance to poor (BPL), Domestic workers, MGNERGA workers, Rikshawpullers, Building and other construction workers, and many other categories as may be identified by the respective states

RNTCP

MoHFW

1997

Health

Tuberculosis control initiative

Saksham or Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Boys

MoWCD

2014

Skill Development

Aims at all-round development of Adolescent Boys and make them self-reliant, gender-sensitive and aware citizens, when they grow up. It cover all adolescent boys (both school going and out of school) in the age-group of 11 to 18 years subdivided into two categories, viz. 11-14 & 14–18 years. In 2014–15, an allocation of Rs. 25 crore is made for the scheme.

Sabla or Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls

MoWCD

2011

Skill Development

Empowering adolescent girls (Age) of 11–18 years with focus on out-of-school girls by improvement in their nutritional and health status and upgrading various skills like home skills, life skills and vocational skills. Merged Nutrition Programme for Adolescent Girls (NPAG) and Kishori Shakti Yojana (KSY).

seeks to provide the institutional capacity to train a minimum 40 crore skilled people by 2022

Swabhiman

MoF

February 15, 2011

Financial Inclusion

To make banking facility available to all citizens and to get 5 crore accounts opened by Mar 2012. Replaced by Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana

MoRD

April 1, 1999

Rural Employment

Bring the assisted poor families above the poverty line by organising them into Self Help Groups (SHGs) through the process of social mobilisation, their training and capacity building and provision of income generating assets through a mix of bank credit and government subsidy.

Swavalamban

MoF

September 26, 2010

To be replaced by Atal Pension Yojana

Pension

pension scheme to the workers in unorganised sector. Any citizen who is not part of any statutory pension scheme of the Government and contributes between Rs. 1000 and Rs. 12000/- per annum, could join the scheme. The Central Government shall contribute Rs. 1000 per annum to such subscribers.

Udisha

MoWCD

Child Care

Training Program for ICDS workers

Voluntary Disclosure of Income Scheme

June 18, 1997

Closed on 31 December 1998

Opportunity to the income tax/ wealth tax defaulters to disclose their undisclosed income at the prevailing tax rates.

National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)

MoRD

June 2011

$5.1 Billion

This scheme will organize rural poor into Self Help Group(SHG) groups and make them capable for self-employment. The idea is to develop better livelihood options for the poor.

HRIDAY – Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana

MoUD

Jan 2015

Urban Development

The scheme seeks to preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage of the country.

Sukanya Samridhi Yojana (Girl Child Prosperity Scheme)

MoWCD

Jan 2015

The scheme primarily ensures equitable share to a girl child in resources and savings of a family in which she is generally discriminated as against a male child.

Smart Cities Mission

MoUD

June 25, 2015

Urban Development

To enable better living and drive economic growth stressing on the need for people centric urban planning and development.

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

MoUD

June 25, 2015

Urban Development

To enable better living and drive economic growth stressing on the need for people centric urban planning and development.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

MoUD

June 25, 2015

Housing

To enable better living and drive economic growth stressing on the need for people centric urban planning and development.

National Child Labour Projects(NCLP)

Ministry of Labour and Employment

launched in 9 districts in 1987 and has been expanded in January 2005 to 250 districts in 21 different states of the country

The objective of this project is to eliminate child labour in hazardous industries by 2010.

Under this scheme, the target group is all children below 14 years of age who are working in occupations and processes listed in the Schedule to the Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 or occupations and processes that are harmful to the health of the child.

Antyodaya Anna Yojna

NDA government

25 December 2000

Under the scheme 1 crore of the poorest among the (Below Poverty Line)BPL families covered under the targeted public distribution system are identified.

Issue of Ration Cards Following the recognition of Antyodaya families, unique quota cards to be recognized an “Antyodaya Ration Card” must be given to the Antyodaya families by the chosen power.

The scheme has been further expanded twice by additional 50 lakh BPL families each in June 2003 and in August 2004,thus covering 2 crore families under the AAY scheme

National Food Security Mission

Government of India

2007 for 5 years

It launched in 2007 for 5 years to increase production and productivity of wheat, rice and pulses on a sustainable basis so as to ensure food security of the country.

The aim is to bridge the yield gap in respect of these crops through dissemination of improved technologies and farm management practices.

Poverty alleviation programmes in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The poverty alleviation programmes in India can be categorized based on whether it is targeted for rural areas or urban areas. Most of the programmes are designed to target rural poverty as the prevalence of the poverty is high in rural areas. Also targeting of the poverty is challenging in rural areas due to various geographic and infrastructure limitations. The programmes can be mainly grouped into 1) Wage employment programmes, 2) Self-employment programmes, 3) Food security programmes, 4) Social security programmes and 5) Urban poverty alleviation programmes.

The five year plans immediately after independence tried to focus on poverty alleviation through sectoral programmes. The first five year plan focused on agricultural production as a way of addressing poverty while second and third plans focused on massive state led investments for employment generation in public sector. While these policies did some policy generation, they did not have enough strength to effect a sweeping effect.

Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) is the restructured, streamlined and comprehensive version of the erstwhile Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY).It was started on 1 April 1999. The main aim of this programme was development of rural areas. Infrastructure like roads to connect the village to different area, which made the village more accessible and also other social, educational (schools) and infrastructure like hospitals. Its secondary objective was to give out sustained wage employment. This was only given to BPL (below the poverty line) families and fund was to be spent for individual beneficiary schemes for SCs and ST’s and 3% for the establishment of barrier free infrastructure for the disabled people. The village panchayats were one of the main governing body of this programme. There, it did not feel like an outsider was controlling it, the village panchayats were a part of the people and understood their needs. Rs. 1841.80 crore was used and they had a target of 8.57 lakh works. 5.07 lakh works were completed during 1999–2000. Lets read about them in detail.

Contents

1 National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)

2 National family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)

3 National Maternity Benefit Scheme

4 Annapurna

5 Integrated Rural Development Program(IRDP)

6 Rural Housing-Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)(initiated in 1985)

7 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)

National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)

As the name suggests this scheme provides pension to old people who were above the age of 65[‘Now 60’ ]who could not fend for themselves and did not have any means of subsistence. The pension that was given was Rs 200 a month. This pension is given by the central government. The job of implementation of this scheme in states and union territories is given to panchayats and municipalities. The states contribution may vary depending on the state. The amount of old age pension is Rs. 200 per month for applicants aged 60–79. For applicants aged above 80 years, the amount has been revised in Rs. 500 a month according to the (2011–2012) Budget.

National family Benefit Scheme (NFBS)

This scheme was started in August 1995 by the Government of India. This scheme is sponsored by the state government. It was transferred to the state sector scheme after 2002-03. It is under the community and rural department. This scheme provides a sum of 20000 Rs to a person of a family who becomes the head of the family after the death of its primary breadwinner. The breadwinner is defined as a person who is above 18 who earns the most for the family and on whose earnings the family survives. It is for families below the poverty line.

National Maternity Benefit Scheme

This scheme provides a sum of 500 Rs to a pregnant mother for the first two live births. The women have to be older than 19 years of age. It is given normally 12–8 weeks before the birth and in case of the death of the child the women can still avail it.

The NMBS is implemented by states and union territories with the help of panchayats and municipalities. During 1999–2000 the total allocation of funds for this scheme was 767.05 crores and the amount used was Rs4444.13 crore

Annapurna

This scheme was started by the government in 1999–2000 to provide food to senior citizens who cannot take care of themselves and are not under the National Old Age Pension Scheme… (NOAPS), and who have no one to take care of them in their village. This scheme would provide 10 kg of free food grains a month for the eligible senior citizens. The allocation for this scheme as off 2000-2001 was Rs 100 crore.

Integrated Rural Development Program(IRDP)

IRDP in India is among the world’s most ambitious programs to alleviate rural poverty by providing income-generated assets to the poorest of the poor. This program was first introduced in 1978-79 in some selected areas, but covered all the areas by November 1980. During the sixth five year plan (1980–85) assets worth 47.6 billion rupees were distributed to about 16.6 million poor families. During 1987-88, another 4.2 million families were assisted with an average investment of 4,471 per family or 19 billion rupees overall.

There were certain operational problems connected with bank financing of the program, status of assets, leakages and other related inefficiencies. Many studies have shown that only about 5 percent of IRDP families were able to cross the poverty line over a period of two years.

The main objective of IRDP is to raise families of identified target group below poverty line by creation of sustainable opportunities for self-employment in the rural sector. Assistance is given in the form of subsidy by the government and term credit advanced by financial institutions (commercial banks, cooperatives and regional rural banks.) The program is implemented in all blocks of the country as centrally sponsored scheme funded on 50:50 basis by the center and the states. The target group under IRDP consists of small and marginal farmers, agricultural laborers and rural artisans having annual income below Rs. 11,000 defined as poverty line in the Eighth Plan. In order to ensure that benefits under the program reach the more vulnerable sectors of the society, it is stipulated that at least 50 per cent of assisted families should be from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes with corresponding flow of resources to them. Furthermore, 40 per cent of the coverage should be of women beneficiaries and 3 per cent of physically challenged persons. At the grassroots level, the block staff is responsible for implementation of the program. The State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) monitors the program at state level whereas the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment is responsible for the release of central share of funds, policy formation, overall guidance, monitoring and evaluation of the program.

Rural Housing-Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY)(initiated in 1985)

This scheme aimed at creating housing for everyone. It aimed at creating 20 lakh housing units out of which 13 lakhs were in rural area. This scheme also would give out loans to people at subsidized rates to make houses. It was started in 1999–2000. In 1999–2000 1438.39 crore Rs was used for this scheme and about 7.98 lakh units were built. In 2000-01 a central outlay of 1710.00 crores Rs was provided for this scheme.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)

The NREGA bill notified in 2005 and came into force in 2006 and further modified it as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2008. This scheme guarantees 100 days of paid work to people in the rural areas. The scheme has proved to be a major boost in Indian rural population’s income.

To augment wage employment opportunities by providing employment on demand and by specific guaranteed wage employment every year to households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work to thereby extend a security net to the people and simultaneously create durable assets to alleviate some aspects of poverty and address the issue of development in the rural areas. The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD) is the nodal Ministry for the implementation of NREGA. It is responsible for ensuring timely and adequate resource support to the States and to the Central Council. It has to undertake regular review, monitoring and evaluation of processes and outcomes. It is responsible for maintaining and operating the MIS to capture and track data on critical aspects of implementation, and assess the utilization of resources through a set of performance indicators. MRD will support innovations that help in improving processes towards the achievement of the objectives of the Act. It will support the use of Information Technology (IT) to increase the efficiency and transparency of the processes as well as improve interface with the public. It will also ensure that the implementation of NREGA at all levels is sought to be made transparent and accountable to the public.Now 100 to 150 days work for all is provided.

Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana

Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) in India is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme which came into effect on 1 December 1997. The scheme strives to provide gainful employment to the urban unemployed and underemployed poor, through encouraging the setting up of self-employment ventures by the urban and rural poor living below the poverty line.

The SJSRY scheme is being implemented on a cost-sharing basis between the Centre and the States in the ratio of 75:25. Given the low allocations for the scheme, only about 2 lakh urban poor under skill development and 50,000 under self-employment are being benefitted under SJSRY annually. The target under skill development of the urban poor is very small considering that the number of urban poor was estimated at 81 million in 2004-05 and that nationally a target of 500 million persons to be skill-trained by 2022 has been fixed by the National Council on Skill Development.

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Ministry

MoRD

Launched

1 April 1999; 16 years ago

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) is an initiative launched by the Government of India to provide sustainable income to poorest poor people living in rural & urban areas of the country. The scheme was launched on April 1, 1999.

The SGSY aims at providing self-employment to villagers through the establishment of self-help groups. Activity clusters are established based on the aptitude and skill of the people which are nurtured to their maximum potential. Funds are provided by NGOs, banks and financial institutions.

Since its inception, over 2.25 million Self-help groups have been established with an investment of ₹14403 crore (US$2.1 billion), profiting over 6.697 million people.

The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched as an integrated programme for self-employment of the rural poor with effect from April

Contents

1 Working of the scheme

2 Funding

3 Results

Working of the scheme

The SGSY was somewhat intended to provide self-employment to millions of villagers. Poor families living below the poverty line were organised into Self-help groups (SHG)s established with a mixture of government subsidy and credit from investment banks. The main aim of these SHGs was to bring these poor families above the poverty line and concentrate on income generation through combined effort. The scheme recommended the establishment of activity clusters or clusters of villagers grouped together based on their skills and abilities. Each of these activity clusters worked on a specific activity chosen based on the aptitude and skill of the people, availability of resources and market potentiality.

The SHGs are aided, supported and trained by NGOs, CBOs, individuals, banks and self-help promoting institutions. Government-run District Level Development Agencies (DRDA) and the respective State governments also provided training and financial aid. The programme focuses on establishing microenterprises in rural areas.

The SHGs created may have a varying number of members based on the terrain and physical abilities of the members. It goes through three stages of creation:

Group formation

Capital formation through the revolving fund and skill development and

Taking up of economic activity for skill generation.

The SHGs are usually created by selecting individuals from the Below poverty-line (BPL) list provided by the Gram sabha. The SHGs are divided into various blocks and each of these blocks concentrated on 4-5 key activities. The SGSY is mainly run through government-run DRDAs with support from local private institutions, banks and Panchayati raj institutions.

The Government also assists villagers in marketing their products by organizing melas or fairs, exhibitions,, etc.

The Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY) has been renamed as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).With this the scheme will be made universal, more focussed and time bound for poverty alleviation by 2014:

Funding

Government provide funds as per individual is 30% of the total capital investment if the total investment is less than Rs. 7,500 and 50% of the investment for SC/STs if the investment is less than Rs.10,000. For self-help groups, the government offers a subsidy of 50% if the total investment is less than Rs. 1.25 lakhs. There are no monetary ceilings on subsidy in the case of irrigation projects.

The SGSY concentrates on the marginalized sections of society. Accordingly, SC/STs comprise 50 percent, women 40% and the physically challenged make up 3% of the total beneficiaries from the scheme.

Government funding for the scheme is divided between the Center and State on a 75-25 basis.

Results

Since its inception in 1999, around 2.252 million SHGs have been established comprising 3.554 million people. Apart from SHGs, the scheme has also benefitted 3.143 million self-employed individuals. The total investment provided for the cause has been calculated at Rs. 14,403.73 crores including Rs. 1,200 crores provided by the Government of India for the calendar year 2006-07. Of the beneficiaries, 45.54 percent have been SC/STs and 47.85 percent, women.

Physical and Financial progress since inception

1999-2000

2000-2001

2001-2002

Total

Financial progress (in crores)

Total Government allocation

1472.33

1332.50

774.50

3579.33

Total funds available

1907.68

1518.40

1054.77

4480.85

Total funds utilized

959.86

1116.27

499.96

2576.09

Physical progress

Self-help groups formed

292,426

492,664

742,354

742,354

Individual Beneficiaries

585,956

687,602

300,700

1,574,258

Members of SHGs benefitted

347,912

342,871

179,251

870,034

Total swarozgaris assisted

933,868

1,030,473

479,951

2,444,292

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005

Country

India

Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh

Launched

2 Feb 2006

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (or, NREGA No 42) was later renamed as the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” (or, MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work‘. It aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Starting from 200 districts on 2 February 2006, the NREGA covered all the districts of India from 1 April 2008. The statute is hailed by the government as “the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world”. In its World Development Report 2014, the World Bank termed it a “stellar example of rural development”.

The MGNREGA was initiated with the objective of “enhancing livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work”. Another aim of MGNREGA is to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds, wells). Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid. If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance. Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.

MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats (GPs). The involvement of contractors is banned. Labour-intensive tasks like creating infrastructure for water harvesting, drought relief and flood control are preferred.

Apart from providing economic security and creating rural assets, NREGA can help in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others.”

The law provides many safeguards to promote its effective management and implementation. The act explicitly mentions the principles and agencies for implementation, list of allowed works, financing pattern, monitoring and evaluation, and most importantly the detailed measures to ensure transparency and accountability.

Contents

1 Past Scenario

1.1 History

1.2 Overview

2 The law on paper

2.1 Details of the law

2.2 The law and the Constitution of India

3 The law in action

3.1 Independent Academic Research

3.2 Assessment of the act by the constitutional auditor

3.3 Evaluation of the law by the government

3.4 Social audit

3.5 Save MGNREGA

3.6 New Amendments Proposed in 2014

4 Controversies

4.1 Corruption

Past Scenario

History

Using public employment as a social security measure and for poverty alleviation measure in rural areas has a long history in India. After three decades of experimentation, the government launched major schemes like Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Employment Assurance Scheme, Food for Work Programme, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana that were forerunners to Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. Unlike its precursors, the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA guaranteed employment as a legal right

Maharashtra was the first state to enact an employment guarantee act in the 1970s. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister late Vasantrao Naik, launched the revolutionary Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme which proved to be a boon for millions of farmers ravaged by two ferocious famines.

The Planning Commission later approved the scheme and the same was adopted on national scale. The relief measures undertaken by the Government of Maharashtra included employment, programmes aimed at creating productive assets such as tree plantation, conservation of soil, excavation of canals, and building artificial lentic water bodies.

Starting from 1960, the first 30 years of experimentation with employment schemes in rural areas taught few important lessons to the government like the ‘Rural Manpower Programme’ taught the lesson of financial management, the ‘Crash Scheme for Rural Employment’ of planning for outcomes, a ‘Pilot Intensive Rural Employment Programme’ of labour-intensive works, the ‘Drought Prone Area Programme’ of integrated rural development, ‘Marginal Farmers and Agricultural Labourers Scheme’ of rural economic development, the ‘Food for Work Programme’ (FWP) of holistic development and better coordination with the states, the ‘National Rural Employment Programme’ (NREP) of community development, and the ‘Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme’ of focus on landless households. the government had been merging old schemes to introduce new ones while retaining the basic objective of providing additional wage employment involving unskilled manual work, creating ‘durable’ assets, and improving food security in rural areas through public works with special safeguards for the weaker sections and women of the community.

In later years, major employment schemes like Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) in 1977, National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) in 1980, Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS), Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) in 2004, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) were launched. Some of them (e.g. NFFWP) provided foodgrains to complement wages.

On 1 April 1989, to converge employment generation, infrastructure development and food security in rural areas, the government integrated NREP and RLEGP into a new scheme JRY. The most significant change was the decentralization of implementation by involving local people through PRIs and hence a decreasing role of bureaucracy. On 2 October 1993, the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) was initiated to provide employment during the lean agricultural season. The role of PRIs was reinforced with the local self-government at the district level called the ‘Zilla Parishad’ as the main implementing authority. Later, EAS was merged with SGRY in 2001. On 1 April 1999, the JRY was revamped and renamed to JGSY with a similar objective. The role of PRIs was further reinforced with the local self-government at the village level called the ‘Village Panchayats’ as the sole implementing authority. In 2001, it was merged with SGRY.

In January 2001, the government introduced FWP similar to the one initiated in 1977. Once NREGA was enacted, the two were merged in 2006. On 25 September 2001 to converge employment generation, infrastructure development and food security in rural areas, the government integrated EAS and JGSY into a new scheme SGRY. The role of PRIs was retained with the ‘Village Panchayats’ as the sole implementing authority. Yet again due to implementation issues, it was merged with Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in 2006.

The total government allocation to these precursors of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA had been about three-quarters of ₹1 trillion (US$15 billion).

Overview

According to the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007–12), the number of Indians living on less than $1 a day, called Below Poverty Line (BPL), was 300 million that barely declined over the last three decades ranging from 1973 to 2004, although their proportion in the total population decreased from 36 per cent (1993–94) to 28 percent (2004–05), and the rural working class dependent on agriculture was unemployed for nearly 3 months per year. The plan targeted poverty through MGNREGA which promised employment as an entitlement.

Financial allocations for the NREGA increased steadily between 2006-2010 when it touched nearly Rs. 40,000 crores. Since then, however, allocation for NREGA has stagnated just below Rs. 40,000 crores. In 2014-15, allocations were cut dramatically to less than Rs. 30,000 crores.

The UPA Government had planned to increase the number of working days from 100 to 150 before the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections in the country but failed.

The NDA government has decided to provide 150 days for rain hit areas.

The law on paper

Details of the law

The Act is to be implemented by the State Government, with funding from the Central Government. According to Section 13, the “principal authorities” for planning and implementation of the Scheme are the Panchayats at the District, Intermediate and village levels. However, the division of responsibilities between different ..

The basic unit of implementation is the Block. In each Block, a “Programme Officer” will be in charge. The Programme Officer is supposed to be an officer of rank no less than the Block Development Officer (BDO), paid by the Central Government, and with the implementation of NREGA as his or her sole responsibility. The Programme Officer is accountable to the “Intermediate Panchayat” as well as to the District Coordinator.

Implementing agencies include any agency that is “authorized by the Central Government or the State Government to undertake the implementation of any work” taken up under NREGA [Section 2(g)]. The main implementing agencies are the Gram Panchayats: at least 50 per cent of the works (in terms of share of the NREGA funds) have to be implemented through the Gram Panchayats [Section 16(5)]. Other implementing agencies include the Panchayat Samiti, the District Panchayats, and “line departments” such as the Public Works Department, the Forest Department, the Irrigation Department, and so on. NREGA also allows NGOs to act as implementing agencies. Even the works of implementing agencies other than the Gram Panchayat must be presented before the gram sabha and included in the annual shelf of works.

The registration process involves an application to the Gram Panchayat and issue of job cards. The wage employment must be provided within 15 days of the date of application. The work entitlement of ‘100 days per household per year’ may be shared between different adult members of the same household.

The law also lists permissible works: water conservation and water harvesting; drought proofing including afforestation; irrigation works; restoration of traditional water bodies; land development; flood control; rural connectivity; and works notified by the government. The Act sets a minimum limit to the wage-material ratio as 60:40. The provision of accredited engineers, worksite facilities and a weekly report on worksites is also mandated by the Act.

Furthermore, the Act sets a minimum limit to the wages, to be paid with gender equality, either on a time-rate basis or on a piece-rate basis. The states are required to evolve a set of norms for the measurement of works and schedule of rates. unemployment allowance must be paid if the work is not provided within the statutory limit of 15 days.

The law stipulates Gram Panchayats to have a single bank account for NREGA works which shall be subjected to public scrutiny. To promote transparency and accountability, the act mandates ‘monthly squaring of accounts’. To ensure public accountability through public vigilance, the NREGA designates ‘social audits’ as key to its implementation.

The most detailed part of the Act (chapter 10 and 11) deals with transparency and accountability that lays out role of the state, the public vigilance and, above all, the social audits.

For evaluation of outcomes, the law also requires management of data and maintenance of records, like registers related to employment, job cards, assets, muster rolls and complaints, by the implementing agencies at the village, block and state level.

The legislation specifies the role of the state in ensuring transparency and accountability through upholding the right to information and disclosing information proactively, preparation of annual reports by CEGC for Parliament and SEGCs for state legislatures, undertaking mandatory financial audit by each district along with physical audit, taking action on audit reports, developing a Citizen’s Charter, establishing vigilance and monitoring committees, and developing grievance redressal system.

The Act recommends establishment of ‘Technical Resource Support Groups’ at district, state and central level and active use of Information Technology, like creation of a ‘Monitoring and Information System (MIS)’ and a NREGA website, to assure quality in implementation of NREGA through technical support.

The law allows convergence of NREGA with other programmes. As NREGA intends to create ‘additional’ employment, the convergence should not affect employment provided by other programmes.

The law and the Constitution of India

The Constitution of India – India’s fundamental and supreme law.

The Act aims to follow the Directive Principles of State Policy enunciated in Part IV of the Constitution of India. The law by providing a ‘right to work’ is consistent with Article 41 that directs the State to secure to all citizens the right to work. The statute also seeks to protect the environment through rural works which is consistent with Article 48A that directs the State to protect the environment.

In accordance with the Article 21 of the Constitution of India that guarantees the right to life with dignity to every citizen of India, this act imparts dignity to the rural people through an assurance of livelihood security. The Fundamental Right enshrined in Article 16 of the Constitution of India guarantees equality of opportunity in matters of public employment and prevents the State from discriminating against anyone in matters of employment on the grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, place of residence or any of them. NREGA also follows Article 46 that requires the State to promote the interests of and work for the economic uplift of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and protect them from discrimination and exploitation.

Article 40 mandates the State to organise village panchayats and endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government. Conferring the primary responsibility of implementation on Gram Panchayats, the Act adheres to this constitutional principle. Also the process of decentralization initiated by 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India that granted a constitutional status to the Panchayats is further reinforced by the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA that endowed these rural self-government institutions with authority to implement the law.

The law in action

Independent Academic Research

Academic research has focused on many dimensions of the NREGA: economic security, self-targeting, women’s empowerment, asset creation, corruption, how the scheme impacts agricultural wages. An early overall assessment in the north India states suggested that NREGA was “making a difference to the lives of the rural poor, slowly but surely.”

The evidence on self-targeting suggests that works though there is a lot of unmet demand for work.

One of the objectives of NREGA was to improve the bargaining power of labour who often faced exploitative market conditions. Several studies have found that agricultural wages have increased significantly, especially for women since the inception of the scheme. This indicates that overall wage levels have increased due to the act, however, further research highlights that the key benefit of the scheme lies in the reduction of wage volatility. This highlights that NREGA may be an effective insurance scheme. Ongoing research efforts try to evaluate the overall welfare effects of the scheme; a particular focus has been to understand whether the scheme has reduced migration into urban centers for casual work.

Women employed under NREGA for de-silting a tank

Another important aspect of NREGA is the potential for women’s empowerment by providing them opportunities for paid work. One third of all employment is reserved for women, there is a provision for equal wages to men and women, provision for child care facilities at the worksite – these are three important provisions for women in the Act. More recent studies have suggested that women’s participation has remained high, though there are inter-state variations. One study in border villages of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat studied the effect on short term migration and child welfare. and finds that among children who do not migrate, grade completed is higher. The same study found that demand for NREGA work is higher, even though migrant wages are higher.

On asset creation, there have not been too many detailed studies. A few focusing on the potential for asset creation under NREGA suggest that (a) the potential is substantial and (b) in some places it is being realized and (c) lack of staff, especially technical staff rather than lack of material are to blame for poor realization of this potential. Others have pointed out that water harvesting and soil conservation works promoted through NREGA “could have high positive results on environment security and biodiversity and environment conservation” A study conducted by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science and other collaborators attempts to quantify the environmental and socio-economic benefits of works done through the NREGA

Corruption in government programmes has remained a serious concern, and NREGA has been no exception. According to recent estimates, wage corruption in NREGA has declined from about 50% in 2007-8 to between 4-30% in 2009-10. Much of this improvement is attributable to the move to pay NREGA wages through bank and post office accounts. Some of the success in battling corruption can also be attributed to the strong provisions for community monitoring. Others find that “the overall social audit effects on reducing easy-to-detect malpractices was mostly absent”.

A few papers also study the link between electoral gains and implementation of NREGA. One studies the effect in Andhra Pradesh – the authors find that “while politics may influence programme expenditure in some places and to a small extent, this is not universally true and does not undermine the effective targeting and good work of the scheme at large.” The two other studies focus on these links in Rajasthan and West Bengal.

Assessment of the act by the constitutional auditor

The second performance audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of Indiacovered 3,848 gram panchayats (GPs)in 28 statesand 4 union territories (UTs)from April 2007 to March 2012. This comprehensive survey by the CAG documents lapses in implementation of the act. The main problems identified in the audit included: a fall in the level of employment, low rates of completion of works (only 30 per cent of planned works had been completed), poor planning (in one-third of Gram Panchayats, the planning process mandated by the act had not been followed), lack of public awareness partly due to poor information, education and communication IEC) by the state governments, shortage of staff (e.g., Gram Rozgar Sewaks had not been appointed in some states) and so on.Notwithstanding the statutory requirement of notification, yet five states had not even notified the eight-years-old scheme. The comprehensive assessment of the performance of the law by the constitutional auditor revealed serious lapses arising mainly due to lack of public awareness, mismanagement and institutional incapacity. The CAG also suggested some corrective measures.

Major recommendations of the CAG audit on MGNREGA

Even though the mass social audits have a statutory mandate of Section 17 (as outlined in Chapter 11 of the NREGA Operational Guidelines), only seven states have the institutional capacity to facilitate the social audits as per prescribed norms. lthough the Central Council is mandated to establish a central evaluation and monitoring system as per the NREGA Operational Guidelines, even after six years it is yet to fulfill the NREGA directive. Further, the CAG audit reports discrepancies in the maintenance of prescribed basic records in up to half of the gram panchayats (GPs) which inhibits the critical evaluation of the NREGA outcomes. The unreliability of Management Information System (MIS), due to significant disparity between the data in the MIS and the actual official documents, is also reported.

To increase public awareness, the intensification of the Information, Education and Communication (IEC) activities is recommended. To improve management of outcomes, it recommended proper maintenance of records at the gram panchayat (GP) level. Further the Central Council is recommended to establish a central evaluation and monitoring system for “a national level, comprehensive and independent evaluation of the scheme”. The CAG also recommends a timely payment of unemployment allowance to the rural poor and a wage material ratio of 60:40 in the NREGA works. Moreover, for effective financial management, the CAG recommends proper maintenance of accounts, in a uniform format, on a monthly basis and also enforcing the statutory guidelines to ensure transparency in the disposal of funds. For capacity building, the CAG recommends an increase in staff hiring to fill the large number of vacancies.

For the first time, the CAG also included a survey of more than 38,000 NREGA beneficiaries. An earlier evaluation of the NREGA by the CAG was criticized for its methodology.

Evaluation of the law by the government

Ex-Prime Minister of IndiaManmohan Singhreleased an anthologysof research studies on the MGNREGA called “MGNREGA Sameeksha” in New Delhi on 14 July 2012, about a year before the CAG report.Aruna Royand Nikhil Deysaid that “the MGNREGA Sameeksha is a significant innovation to evaluate policy and delivery”.The anthology draws on independent assessments of MGNREGA conducted by Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)and others in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)published from 2008 to 2012. The Prime Minister said:

The Mahatma Gandhi NREGA story in numbers is a story worth telling… the scheme scores high on inclusivness…no welfare scheme in recent memory has caught the imagination of the people as much as NREGA has … under which ₹1,10,000 crore (about USD$25 billion) have been spent to pay wages to 1,200 crore (12 billion) people.

Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh says in the ‘MGNREGA Sameeksha’:

It is perhaps the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world. … soundness and high potential of the MGNREGA are well established … . That, at any rate, is one of the main messages emerging from this extensive review of research on MGNREGA. It is also a message that comes loud and clear from the resounding popularity of MGNREGA—today, about one-fourth of all rural households participate in the programme every year.

Meanwhile, the social audits in two Indian states highlight the potential of the law if implemented effectively.

Further the Minister says:

MGNREGA’s other quantitative achievements have been striking as well:

Since its inception in 2006, around ₹1,10,000 crore (about USD$25 billion) has gone directly as wage payment to rural households and 1200 crore (12 billion) person-days of employment has been generated. On an average, 5 crore (50 million) households have been provided employment every year since 2008.

Eighty per cent of households are being paid directly through bank/post office accounts, and 10 crore (100 million) new bank/post office accounts have been opened.

The average wage per person-day has gone up by 81 per cent since the Scheme’s inception, with state-level variations. The notified wage today varies from a minimum of ₹122 (USD$2.5) in Bihar, Jharkhand to ₹191 (USD$4) in Haryana.

Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) have accounted for 51 per cent of the total person-days generated and women for 47 per cent, well above the mandatory 33 per cent as required by the Act.

146 lakh (14.6 million) works have been taken up since the beginning of the programme, of which about 60 per cent have been completed.

12 crore (120 million) Job Cards (JCs) have been given and these along with the 9 crore (90 million) muster rolls have been uploaded on the Management Information System (MIS), available for public scrutiny. Since 2010–11, all details with regard to the expenditure of the MGNREGA are available on the MIS in the public domain.

Social audit

Main article: Social audit

Civil society organisations (CSOs), nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), political representatives, civil servants and workers of Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh collectively organise social audits to prevent corruption under the NREGA. As the corruption is attributed to the secrecy in governance, the ‘Jansunwai’ or public hearing and the right to information (RTI), enacted in 2005, are used to fight this secrecy. Official records obtained using RTI are read out at the public hearing to identify and rectify irregularities. “This process of reviewing official records and determining whether state reported expenditures reflect the actual monies spent on the ground is referred to as a social audit.” Participation of informed citizens promotes collective responsibility and awareness about entitlements.

The process of a social audit

A continuous process of social audit on NREGA works involves public vigilance and verification at the stipulated 11 stages of implementation: registration of families; distribution of job cards; receipt of work applications; selection of suitable public works; preparation of technical estimates; work allocation; implementation and supervision; payment of wages; payment of unemployment allowance; evaluation of outcomes; and mandatory social audit in the Gram Sabha or Social Audit Forum. The Gram Panchayat Secretary called ‘Sarpanch’ is designated as the authority responsible for carrying out the social audit at all stages. For some stages, the programme officer and the junior engineer is also responsible along with Sarpanch.

The statute designates the Gram Sabha meetings held to conduct social audit as the ‘Social Audit Forums’ and spells out three steps to make them effective: publicity and preparation of documents; organizational and procedural aspects; and the mandatory agenda involving questions verifying compliance with norms specified at each of the 11 stages of implementation. An application under the RTI to access relevant official documents is the first step of the social audit. Then the management personnel of the social audit verify these official records by conducting field visits. Finally, the ‘Jansunwai’ or public hearing is organised at two levels: the Panchayat or village level and the Mandal level. The direct public debate involving the beneficiaries, political representatives, civil servants and, above all, the government officers responsible for implementing the NREGA works highlights corruption like the practice of rigging muster rolls (attendance registers) and also generates public awareness about the scheme.

These social audits on NREGA works in Rajasthan highlight: a significant demand for the scheme, less that 2 per cent corruption in the form of fudging of muster rolls, building the water harvesting infrastructure as the first priority in the drought-prone district, reduction of out-migration, and above all the women participation of more than 80 per cent in the employment guarantee scheme. The need for effective management of tasks, timely payment of wages and provision of support facilities at work sites is also emphasised.

To assess the effectiveness of the mass social audits on NREGA works in Andhra Pradesh, a World Bank study investigated the effect of the social audit on the level of public awareness about NREGA, its effect on the NREGA implementation, and its efficacy as a grievance redressal mechanism. The study found that the public awareness about the NREGA increased from about 30 per cent before the social audit to about 99 per cent after the social audit. Further, the efficacy of NREGA implementation increased from an average of about 60 per cent to about 97 per cent.

Save MGNREGA

‘Save MGNREGA’ is a set of demands proposed during the joint meeting of the national leadership of CITU, AIAWU, AIDWA and AIKS in New Delhi. The agenda was to discuss the dilution of MGNREGA scheme by the new government. Following demands were proposed:

Government of India should increase the Central allocation for the scheme so that number of workdays can be increased to 200 and per day wage can be increased to Rs. 300.

Job card to be issued for everyone who demands job, failing which, after 15 days employment benefits should be given.

Minimum 100 days of work should be ensured to all card holders

Minimum wage act should be strictly implemented. Delay in wage payment should be resolved.

MGNREGA should be extended to urban areas.

Gram Sabhas should be strengthened to monitor proper implementation of the scheme and also to check corruption.

New Amendments Proposed in 2014

Union Rural development Minister, Nitin Gadkari, proposed to limit MGNREGA programmes within tribal and poor areas. He also proposed to change the labour:material ratio from 60:40 to 51:49. As per the new proposal the programme will be implemented in 2,500 backward blocks coming under Intensive Participatory Planning Exercise. These blocks are identified per the Planning Commission Estimate of 2013 and a Backwardness Index prepared by Planning Commission using 2011 census. This backwardness index consist of following five parameters – percentage of households primarily depended on agriculture, female literacy rates, households without access to electricity, households without access to drinking water and sanitation within the premises and households without access to banking facilities.

Both proposals came in for sharp criticism. A number of economists with diverse views opposed the idea of restricting or “focussing” implementation in a few districts or blocks.

In the November 2014 cabinet expansion, Birender Singh replaced Nitin Gadkari as rural development minister. Among the first statements made by the new minister was an assurance that NREGA would continue in all districts. Around the same time, however, NREGA budget saw a sharp cut and in the name of ‘focusing’ on a few blocks the programme has been limited to those blocks.

Controversies

A major criticism of NREGA is that it is making agriculture less profitable. Landholders often oppose it on these grounds. The big farmer’s point of view can be summed up as follows: landless labourers are lazy and they don’t want to work on farms as they can get money without doing anything at NREGA worksites; farmers may have to sell their land, thereby laying foundation for the corporate farming.The workers points of view can be summed up as: labourers do not get more than Rs. 80 in the private agricultural labour market, there is no farm work for several months; few old age people who are jobless for at least 8 months a year; when farm work is available they go there first; farmers employ only young and strong persons to work in their farms and reject the others and hence many go jobless most of the time.

Corruption

NREGA has been criticised for the leakages and corrupt implementation. It has been alleged that individuals have received benefits and work payments for work that they have not done, or have done only on paper, or are not poor. In 2014-15, only 28% of the payments were made on time to workers. Following the allegations of corruption in the scheme, NDA government ordered a re-evaluation of the scheme in 2015.

Atal Pension Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Key people

Arun Jaitley

Launched

9 May 2015; 10 months ago

Atal Pension Yojana is a government-backed pension scheme in India targeted at the unorganised sector. It was originally mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February 2015. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata. As of May 2015, only 11% of India’s population has any kind of pension scheme, this scheme aims to increase the number.[3]

Contents

1 Overview

2 See also

Overview

In Atal Pension Yojana, for every contribution made to the pension fund, The Central Government would also co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or ₹1,000 (US$15) per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years. The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years. The age of exit and start of pension would be 60 years. Therefore, minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more.

Aadhaar would be the primary KYC document for identification of beneficiaries, spouse and nominees to avoid pension rights and entitlement related disputes in the long-term. The subscribers are required to opt for a monthly pension from Rs. 1000 – Rs. 5000 and ensure payment of stipulated monthly contribution regularly. The subscribers can opt to decrease or increase pension amount during the course of accumulation phase, as per the available monthly pension amounts. However, the switching option shall be provided once in year during the month of April.

This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme and the contributions will be deducted automatically. Most of these accounts had zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts by using this and related schemes.

Run by Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, on the inauguration day, 1.5 Crore (15 million) bank accounts were opened under this scheme. Guinness World Records Recognises the Achievements made under PMJDY, Guinness World Records Certificate says “The most bank accounts opened in 1 week as a part of financial inclusion campaign is 18,096,130 and was achieved by Banks in India from 23 to 29 August 2014”. By 10 February 2016, over 20 crore (200 million) bank accounts were opened and ₹323.78 billion (US$4.8 billion) were deposited under the scheme.

In a run up to the formal launch of this scheme, the Prime Minister personally mailed to Chairmans of all PSU banks to gear up for the gigantic task of enrolling over 7.5 crore (75 million) households and to open their accounts. In this email he categorically declared that a bank account for each household was a “national priority”.

The scheme has been started with a target to provide ‘universal and clear access to banking facilities’ starting with “Basic Banking Accounts” with overdraft facility of ₹5,000 (US$74)after six months and RuPay Debit card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of ₹1 lakh (US$1,500) and RuPay Kisan Card. In next phase, micro insurance & pension etc. will also be added.

Under the scheme:

Account holders will be provided zero-balance bank account with RuPay debit card, in addition to accidental insurance cover of ₹1 lakh (US$1,500) (to be given by ‘HDFC Ergo’).

Those who open accounts by 26 January 2015 over and above the ₹1 lakh (US$1,500) accident claim will also be given life insurance cover of ₹30,000 (US$450) (to be given by LIC).

After Six months of opening of the bank account, holders can avail ₹5,000 (US$74) overdraft from the bank.

With the introduction of new technology introduced by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a person can transfer funds, check balance through a normal phone which was earlier limited only to smart phones so far.

Mobile banking for the poor would be available through National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP) for which all banks and mobile companies have come together

Performance

Arun Jaitley holding a press conference to announce a record number of 11.50 crore bank accounts opened under PMJDY

Due to the preparations done in the run-up, as mentioned above, on the inauguration day, 1.5 Crore (15 million) bank accounts were opened. The Prime Minister said on this occasion- “Let us celebrate today as the day of financial freedom.” By September 2014, 3.02 crore accounts were opened under the scheme, amongst Public sector banks, SBI had opened 30 lakh (3 million) accounts, followed by Punjab National Bank with 20.24 lakh (2 million) accounts, Canara Bank 16.21 lakh (1.62 million) accounts, Central Bank of India 15.98 lakh (1.59 million) accounts and Bank of Baroda with 14.22 lakh (1.42 million) accounts. It was reported that total of 7 Crore (70 million) bank accounts have been opened with deposits totaling more than ₹50 billion (US$740 million) as of 6 November 2014. As the government met the target, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has revised the target for opening of bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the ambitious financial inclusion scheme launched by the government, from 7.5 crore to 10 crore by 26 January 2015. On 20 January 2015, the scheme entered into Guinness book of world records setting new record for ‘The most bank accounts opened in one week’.

Criticism

The scheme has been criticized by opposition as an effort to please voters that has created unnecessary work-burden on the public-sector banks. it has been claimed that the poor deserves food more than bank accounts and financial security. Further, these accounts have not yet added considerable profits to PSU banks. According to the experts, offers like zero balance, free insurance and overdraft facility would result in duplication. Many individuals who already have bank accounts may have had accounts created for themselves, lured by the insurance covers and overdraft facilities. As per the scheme, a very few people are eligible to get the life insurance worth ₹30,000 (US$450) with a validity of just five years. However, these ‘secret’ conditions were not shown in the TV advertisements of the scheme. The claimed overdraft facility has been completely left upon the banks. As per the government notice, only those people would get the overdraft facility whose transaction record is satisfactory and financially.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Ministry

Finance

Key people

Arun Jaitley

Launched

9 May 2015; 10 months ago

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is a government-backed accident insurance scheme in India. It was originally mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February 2015. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata. As of May 2015, only 20% of India’s population has any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number.

Contents

1 Overview

2 Criticism

3 Mode of payment of premium

4 Termination of benefit cover

Overview

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 70 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹12 (18¢ US) excluding service tax, which is about 14% of the premium. The amount will be automatically debited from the account. In case of accidental death or full disability, the payment to the nominee will be ₹2 lakh (US$3,000) and in case of partial Permanent disability ₹1 lakh (US$1,500). Full disability has been defined as loss of use in both eyes, hands or feet. Partial Permanent disability has been defined as loss of use in one eye, hand or foot.

This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Most of these account had zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts by using this and related schemes.

Criticism

Private banks have complained that the Government should focus on upper middle class instead of the poorer section. Western scholars and Congress have argued that financial inclusion is a myth and serving such large number of people would only increase the burden and work-load of public sector.

Mode of payment of premium

The premium amount will be deducted from the account holder’s savings bank account through ‘auto debit’ facility in one installment for the entire year, as per the option to be given on enrollment. Members may also give one-time mandate for auto-debit every year till the scheme is in force, subject to re-calibration that may be deemed necessary on review of experience of the scheme from year to year

Termination of benefit cover

In following cases the cover will be terminated and no benefit will be payable to the subcribers.

On attaining age 70 years or the age nearest birth day

At the time of renewal in subsequent years,due to insufficiency of balance to keep the insurance in force the account gets closed.

In case a subscriber is covered by more than one account and premium is paid by the subscriber intentionally, insurance cover will be restricted to one only and the premium shall be liable to be forfeited.

If the insurance cover is ceased due to any technical reasons such as insufficient balance on due date or due to any administrative issues, the same can be reinstated on receipt of full annual premium, subject to conditions that are to be issued in future. During this period, the risk cover will be” suspended” and reinstatement of risk cover will be at the sole discretion of Insurance Company.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana Participating banks will deduct the premium amount in the same month when the auto debit option is given, preferably in May of every year, and remit the amount due to the Insurance Company in that month itself.

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana

Country

India

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is a government-backed Life insurance scheme in India. It was originally mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February 2015. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata. As of May 2015, only 20% of India’s population has any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number.

Contents

1 Overview

2 Criticism

Overview

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 50 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹330 (US$4.90) excluding service tax, which is above 14% of the premium. The amount will be automatically debited from the account. In case of death due to any cause, the payment to the nominee will be ₹2 lakh (US$3,000). This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Most of these account had zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts by using this and related schemes.

Criticism

The banks have complained that revenue received will be very low. Some bankers have claimed that amount they are receiving is not sufficient to cover the service costs. Since this is a group insurance scheme, banks have not received instruction regarding cases where excessive claims are in a year. Insurers have also pointed out that no health certificate or information of pre-existing disease is required for joining.

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana

बेटीबचाओ, बेटीपढ़ाओ

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of the program. He is flanked by actress Madhuri Dixit(left) and Women & Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Launched

22 January 2015; 13 months ago

Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao(Hindi: बेटीबचाओ, बेटीपढ़ाओ, Save girl child, educate girl child) is a Government of India scheme that aims to generate awareness and improving the efficiency of welfare services meant for women. The scheme was initiated with an initial corpus of ₹100 crore (US$15 million). According to census data, the child sex Ratio (0-6 years) in India was 927 girls per 1,000 boys in 2001, which dropped drastically to 918girls for every 1,000 boys in 2011. A 2012 UNICEF report has ranked India 41st among 195 countries.

The Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme has been introduced in October, 2014 to address the issue declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR). This is being implemented through a national campaign and focussed multi sectoral action in 100 selected districts low in CSR, covering all States and UTs. This is a joint initiative of Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development.

Speaking on the occasion of International Day of the Girl Child, Prime Minister Modi, called for the eradication of female foeticide and invited suggestions from the citizens of India on “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” on the MyGov.in portal.

Prime Minister Modi launched the programme on 22 January 2015 from Panipat, Haryana.

The hashtag #SelfieWithDaughter was promoted on social media in June 2015, which started when the sarpanch of the village Bibipur in Haryana took a selfie with his daughter and posted on Facebook on 19 June 2015. The hashtag garnered worldwide fame.

Contents

1 Districts

2 Objectives

3 Strategies

Districts

The 100 districts have been identified on the basis of low Child Sex Ratio as per Census 2011 covering all States/UTs as a pilot with at least one district in each state. The three criteria for selection of districts namely are:-

1.Districts below the national average (87 districts/23 states); 2.Districts above national average but shown declining trend (8 districts/8 states) 3.Districts above national average and shown increasing trend (5 districts/5 states- selected so that these CSR levels can be maintained and other districts can emulate and learn from their experiences).

Bhamashah Yojana is a scheme introduced by the Government of Rajasthan to transfer financial and non-financial benefits of governmental schemes directly to recipients in a transparent way. The scheme was inaugurated by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on 15 August 2014.

The scheme is named after the Bhamashah a famous minister, financier and general who helped Maharana Pratap.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana (DAY)

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Budget

₹500 crore (US$74 million)

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana or DAY is a Government of India scheme for the helping the poor by providing skill training. Government of India has provisioned ₹500 crore (US$74 million) for the scheme. It replace Aajevika. The targets is training 0.5 million people in urban area per annum from 2016 and in rural area it is training 1 million people by 2017. Further, in urban areas services like SHG promotion, training centres, vendors markets, permanent shelters for homeless will be provided for. The aim of scheme is skill development of both rural and urban India as per requisite international standards.

The initiative is named in honor of Indian political philosopher Deen Dayal Upadhyaya.

It is one of the key initiatives of the Modi Government. The government plans to invest ₹756 billion (US$11 billion) for rural electrification under this scheme. The scheme will replace the existing Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). The DDUGJY scheme will enable to initiate much awaited reforms in the rural areas. It focuses on feeder separation (rural households & agricultural) and strengthening of sub-transmission & distribution infrastructure including metering at all levels in rural areas. This will help in providing round the clock power to rural households and adequate power to agricultural consumers .The earlier scheme for rural electrification viz. Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) has been subsumed in the new scheme as its rural electrification component.

Contents

1 Background

2 Scheme

3 Financial provisions

4 Benefits

Background

The rural agricultural and non-Agriculture consumers (domestic and non-domestic load) of the country are generally serviced through the local distribution network. Many rural areas of the country face insufficient electricity supply, consequently the distribution utilities are forced to resort to load shedding, thus affecting the power supply to both Agriculture and non-Agriculture consumers.

The demand of power in rural areas is increasing day by day due to changing consumer base, improving living standards for which augmentation of rural infrastructure needs to be regularly undertaken

The investment in the distribution network is low due to bad financial health of the distribution companies. Therefore, in order to augment the reliability and quality of supply distribution network needs to be strengthened.

To improve the commercial viability of power distribution, there is need for metering of all categories of the consumers

Scheme

Keeping in view the above problems, Ministry of Power, Government of India has launched Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana for rural areas having following objectives:

To provide electrification to all villages

Feeder separation to ensure sufficient power to farmers and regular supply to other consumers

Improvement of Sub-transmission and distribution network to improve the quality and reliability of the supply

Metering to reduce the losses

Financial provisions

Scheme has an outlay of ₹760 billion (US$11 billion) for implementation of the projects under which Government of India shall provide Grant of ₹630 billion (US$9.4 billion)

Benefits

All villages and households shall be electrified

Increase in agriculture yield

Business of Small and household enterprises shall grow resulting into new avenues for employment

Rural areas shall get increased opportunities for comprehensive development

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Launched

25 September 2014; 17 months ago

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana or DDU-GKY is a Government of India youth employment scheme.

It was launched by on 25 September 2014 by Union Minsters Nitin Gadkari and Venkaiah Naidu on the occasion of 98th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya. It aims to target youth, under the age group of 15–35 years.

Jago Grahak Jago

Jago Grahak Jago is a consumer awareness programme from Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India. As part of this initiative, the government has used multiple channels to create consumer Nissan Gtr . Print media advertisements, Audio Campaigns, Video Campaigns are being used for consumer information and education about initiatives like Insurance Ombudsman channel.

Integrated Child Development Services

समेकितबालविकाससेवाए

Country

India

Launched

2 October 1975; 40 years ago

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) (Hindi: समेकितबालविकाससेवाए) is an Indian government welfare programme which provides food, preschool education, and primary healthcare to children under 6 years of age and their mothers. These services are provided from Anganwadi centres established mainly in rural areas and staffed with frontline workers. In addition to fighting malnutrition and ill health, the programme is also intended to combat gender inequality by providing girls the same resources as boys.

A 2005 study found that the ICDS programme was not particularly effective in reducing malnutrition, largely because of implementation problems and because the poorest states had received the least coverage and funding. During the 2012–13 fiscal year, the Indian central government spent ₹159 billion (US$2.4 billion) on the programme. The widespread network of ICDS has an important role in combating malnutrition especially for children of weaker groups.[3]

Contents

1 Background

2 Objectives

3 Scope of Services

4 Implementation

5 Impact

Background

Majority of children in India have underprivileged childhoods starting from birth. The infant mortality rate of Indian children is 44 and the under-five mortality rate is 93 and 25% of newborn children are underweight among other nutritional, immunization and educational deficiencies of children in India. Figures for India are substantially worse than the country average.

ICDS was launched in 1975 in accordance to the National Policy for Children in India. Over the years it has grown into one of the largest integrated family and community welfare schemes in the world. Given its effectiveness over the last few decades, Government of India has committed towards ensuring universal availability of the programme.

Objectives

The predefined objectives of ICDS are

To raise the health and nutritional level of poor Indian children below 6 years of age.

To create a base for proper mental, physical and social development of children in India.

To reduce instances of mortality, malnutrition and school dropouts among Indian children.

To coordinate activities of policy formulation and implementation among all departments of various ministries involved in the different government programmes and schemes aimed at child development across India.

To provide health and nutritional information and education to mothers of young children to enhance child rearing capabilities of mothers in the country of India.

To provide nutritional food to the mothers of young children & also at the time of pregnancy period.

Scope of Services

The following services are sponsored under ICDS to help achieve its objectives:

Immunization

Supplementary nutrition

Health checkup

Referral services

Pre-school non formal education

Nutrition and Health information

Implementation

For nutritional purposes ICDS provides 300 kilocalories (with 8-10 grams of protein) every day to every child below 6 years of age. For adolescent girls it is up to 500 kilo calories with up to 25 grams of protein everyday.

The services of Immunisation, Health Check-up and Referral Services delivered through Public Health Infrastructure under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. UNICEF has provided essential supplies for the ICDS scheme since 1975. World Bank has also assisted with the financial and technical support for the programme. The cost of ICDS programme averages $10–$22 per child a year. The scheme is Centrally sponsored with the state governments contributing up to ₹1.00 (1.5¢ US) per day per child.

Furthermore, in 2008, the GOI adopted the World Health Organization standards for measuring and monitoring the child growth and development, both for the ICDS and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). These standards were developed by WHO through an intensive study of six developing countries since 1997. They are known as New WHO Child Growth Standard and measure of physical growth, nutritional status and motor development of children from birth to 5 years age.

Impact

By end of 2010, the programme is claiming to reach 80.6 lakh expectant and lactating mothers along with 3.93 crore children (under 6 years of age). There are 6,719 operational projects with 1,241,749 operational Aanganwadi centres. Several positive benefits of the programme have been documented and reported

A study in states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka demonstrated significant improvement in the mental and social development of all children irrespective of their gender.

A 1992 study of National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development confirmed improvements in birth-weight and infant mortality of Indian children along with improved immunization and nutrition.

However, World Bank has also highlighted certain key shortcomings of the programme including inability to target the girl child improvements, participation of wealthier children more than the poorer children and lowest level of funding for the poorest and the most undernourished states of India.

Integrated Child Protection Scheme

The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) is a governmental program implemented by the Government Of India to help secure the safety of children, with a special emphasis on children in need of care and protection, juveniles in conflict or contact with the law and other vulnerable children. Its primary purpose is to create a central structure to provide oversight and standardization for pre-existing and evolving child protection schemes in India. Proposed in 2006 and implemented in 2009, the ICPS is administered at the state level by state child protection committees and societies and at the district level by district child protection societies, among other institutions.

Contents

1 Structures

2 See also

Structures

Government of India Level

Ministry of Women and Child Development (India)

Central Adoption Resource Authority

Central Project Support Unit

National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development

State Government Level

State Child Protection Society

State Adoption & Resource Agency

State Project Support Unit

State Adoption Recommendation Committee

District Level

District Child Protection Unit

Child Welfare Committee

Juvenile Justice Board

Special Juvenile Police Unit

Sponsorship Foster Care Approval Committee

District Inspection Committee

Sub-District Level

Block Level Child Protection Committee

Village Level Child Protection Committee

Integrated Rural Development Program

Country

India

Launched

1978

The Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) is a rural development program of the Government of India launched in financial year 1978 and extended throughout India by 1980. It is a self-employment program intended to raise the income-generation capacity of target groups among the poor. The target group consists largely of small and marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and rural artisans living below the poverty The pattern of subsidy is 25 per cent for small farmers, 33-1/3 per cent for marginal farmers, agricultural labourers and rural artisans and 50 per cent for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families and physically handicapped persons. The ceiling for subsidy is Rs.6000/- for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes families and the physically handicapped; for others, it is Rs.4000/-in non-DPAP/non-DDP areas and Rs.5000/- in DPAP and DDP areas. Within the target group, there is an assured coverage of 50 per cent for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 40 per cent for women and 3 per cent for the physically handicapped. Priority in assistance is also given to the families belonging to the assignees of ceiling surplus land, Green Card holders covered under the Family Welfare Programme and freed bonded labourers.

RDP is a major self-employment programme for poverty alleviation. The objective of IRDP is to provide suitable income-generating assets through a mix of subsidy and credit to below-poverty-line families with a view to bring them above the poverty line. A family with an annual income of Rs. 20,000/- and below per annum is considered to be below the poverty line based on the 1998 below Poverty Line Census. The list of individual and family activities which are eligible for assistance with the unit cost of each is placed in Annexure.

The aim is to raise recipients above the poverty line by providing substantial opportunities for self-employment. During the 7th five-year plan, the total expenditure under the program was Rs 33.2 million, and Rs 53.7 million of term credit was mobilized. Some 13 million new families participated, bringing total coverage under the program to more than 18 million families. These development programs have played an important role in increased agricultural production by educating farmers and providing them with financial and other inputs to increase yields.

The objective of IRDP is to enable identified rural poor families to cross the poverty line by providing productive assets and inputs to the target groups. The assets, which could be in primary, secondary or tertiary sectors, are provided through financial assistance in the form of subsidy by the government and term credit advanced by financial institutions. The program is implemented in all the blocks in the country as a centrally sponsored scheme funded on 50:50 basis by the centre and the state. The scheme has been merged with another scheme named Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) since 01.04 1999.

The scheme was introduced because the Government of India realized that the piecemeal efforts in the sphere of rural development had not achieved the targeted objectives. The IRDP was proposed to provide self-employment opportunities to the rural poor through provision of capital subsidy and bank credit so as to help rural poor acquire productive income-generating assets and training to upgrade their skills.

Midday Meal Scheme

Primary school children receiving Midday Meal in Karnataka

Country

India

Launched

2004

The Midday Meal Scheme is a school meal programme of the government of India designed to improve the nutritional status of school-age children nationwide. The programme supplies free lunches on working days for children in primary and upper primary classes in government, government aided, local body, Education Guarantee Scheme, and alternate innovative education centres, Madarsa and Maqtabs supported under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, and National Child Labour Project schools run by the ministry of labour. Serving 120,000,000 children in over 1,265,000 schools and Education Guarantee Scheme centres, it is the largest such programme in the world.

Under article 24, paragraph 2cof the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which India is a party,[5] India has committed to providing “adequate nutritious foods” for children. The programme entered the planning stages in 2001 and was implemented in 2004. The programme has undergone many changes since its launch. The Midday Meal Scheme is covered by the National Food Security Act, 2013. The legal backing to the Indian school meal programme is similar to the legal backing provided in the US through the National School Lunch Act.

Contents

1 History

1.1 Pre-Independence & Post-Independence initiatives

1.2 Initiatives by the central government

1.3 Supreme court order

1.3.1 Interim orders

1.4 Entitlements

1.5 Finances

1.6 Implementation models

1.6.1 Decentralised model

1.6.2 Centralised model

1.6.3 International assistance

2 Monitoring and evaluation

2.1 Monitoring mechanism

3 Evaluation of the scheme

4 Criticism

History

Pre-Independence & Post-Independence initiatives

The roots of the programme can be traced back to the Pre-Independence era, when a mid day meal programme was introduced in 1925 in Madras Corporation by the British administration. A mid day meal programme was introduced in the Union Territory of Puducherry by the French administration in 1930.

Initiatives by state governments to children began with their launch of a mid day meal programme in primary schools in the 1962–63 school year.Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in introducing mid day meal programmes in India, Thiru K. Kamaraj, then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, introduced it first in Chennai and later extended it to all districts of Tamil Nadu.

During 1982, July 1st onwards, the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Thiru. M. G. Ramachandran upgraded the existing Mid-day meal scheme in the state to ‘Nutritious food scheme’ keeping in the mind that 68 lakh children suffers malnutrition.

Gujarat was the second state to introduce an MDM scheme in 1984, but it was later discontinued.

A midday meal scheme was introduced in Kerala in 1984, and was gradually expanded to include more schools and grades. By 1990–91, twelve states were funding the scheme to all or most of the students in their area: Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. Karnataka, Orissa, and West Bengal received international aid to help with implementation of the programme, and in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan the programme was funded entirely using foreign aid.

In Karnataka, Children’s LoveCastles Trust started to provide mid-day meals in 1997. A total of eight schools were adopted and a food bank programme and an Angganwasi milk Programme were started. The food-bank programme was replaced by the State Government midday meal scheme.

Initiatives by the central government

The government of India initiated the National Programme of Nutritional Support to Primary Education (NP-NSPE) on 15 August 1995. The objective of the scheme is to help improve the effectiveness of primary education by improving the nutritional status of primary school children. Initially, the scheme was implemented in 2,408 blocks of the country to provide food to students in classes one through five of government, government-aided and local body run schools. By 1997–98, the scheme had been implemented across the country. Under this programme, a cooked mid day meal with 300 calories and 12 grams of protein is provided to all children enrolled in classes one to five. In October 2007, the scheme included students in upper primary classes of six to eight in 3,479 educationally backward blocks, and the name was changed from National Programme for Nutrition Support to Primary Education to National Programme of Mid Day Meals in Schools.

Though cooked food was to be provided, most states (apart from those already providing cooked food) chose to provide “dry rations” to students. “Dry rations” refers to the provision of uncooked 3 kg of wheat or rice to children with 80% attendance.

Supreme court order

In April 2001, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) initiated the public interest litigation (Civil) No. 196/2001, People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India & Others– popularly known as the “right to food” case. The PUCL argued that article 21 – ” right to life” of the Indian constitution when read together with articles 39(a) and 47, makes the right to food a derived fundamental right which is enforceable by virtue of the constitutional remedy provided under article 32 of the constitution. The PUCL argued that excess food stocks with the Food Corporation of India should be fed to hungry citizens. This included providing mid day meals in primary schools. The scheme came into force with the supreme court order dated 28 November 2001, which requires all government and government-assisted primary schools to provide cooked midday meals.

Interim orders

“Every child in every Government and Government assisted Primary Schools with a prepared mid day meal with a minimum content of 300 calories and 8–12 grams of protein each day of school for a minimum of 200 days”

28 November 2001[19]

Charges on conversion cost

“The conversion costs for a cooked meal, under no circumstances, shall be recovered from the children or their parents”

20 April 2004

Central assistance

“The Central Government… shall also allocate funds to meet with the conversion costs of food-grains into cooked midday meals”

20 April 2004

Kitchen sheds

“The Central Government shall make provisions for construction of kitchen sheds”

20 April 2004

Priority to Dalit cooks

“In appointment of cooks and helpers, preference shall be given to Dalits, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes”

20 April 2004

Quality safeguards

“Attempts shall be made for better infrastructure, improved facilities (safe drinking water etc.), closer monitoring (regular inspection etc.) and other quality safeguards as also the improvement of the contents of the meal so as to provide nutritious meal to the children of the primary schools”

Entitlements

The nutritional guidelines for the minimum amount of food and calorie content per child per day are:

Entitlement norm per child per day under MDM

Item

Primary (class one to five)

Upper primary (class six to eight)

Calories

450

700

Protein (in grams )

12

20

Rice / wheat (in grams )

100

150

Dal (in grams )

20

30

Vegetables (in grams )

50

75

Oil and fat (in grams )

5

7.5

In the case of micronutrients (vitamin A, iron, and folate) tablets and de-worming medicines, the student is entitled to receive the amount provided for in the school health programme of the National Rural Health Mission.

Finances

The central and state governments share the cost of the Midday Meal Scheme, with the centre providing 75 percent and the states 25 percent. The central government provides grains and financing for other food. Costs for facilities, transportation, and labour is shared by the federal and state governments. The participating states contribute different amounts of money. While the eleventh five-year plan allocated ₹384.9 billion (US$5.7 billion) for the scheme, the twelfth five-year plan has allocated ₹901.55 billion (US$13 billion), a 134 percent rise. The public expenditure for the Mid Day Meal Programme has gone up from ₹73.24 billion (US$1.1 billion) in 2007–08 to ₹132.15 billion (US$2.0 billion) in 2013–14. The per day cooking cost per child at the primary level has been fixed to ₹3.59 (5.3¢ US) while at the upper primary level is ₹5.38 (8.0¢ US).

Implementation models

Decentralised model

This is the most widespread practice. In the decentralised model, meals are cooked on-site by local cooks and helpers or self-help groups. This system has the advantage of being able to serve local cuisine, providing jobs in the area, and minimising waste. It also allows for better monitoring (e.g., by parents and teachers).

In the absence of adequate infrastructure (such as kitchen sheds, utensils etc.), it can lead to accidents and maintaining hygiene can be difficult. In 2004, 87 children died when the thatched roof of a classroom was ignited by sparks from a cooking fire,. In 2011, a child died after succumbing to burn injuries she sustained after accidentally falling into a cooking vessel.

Centralised model

In the centralised model, an external organisation cooks and delivers the meal to schools, mostly through public-private partnerships. Centralised kitchens are seen more in urban areas, where density of schools is high so that transporting food is a financially viable option. Advantages of centralised kitchens include ensuring better hygienic as large scale cooking is done through largely automated processes. Various NGOs such as the Akshaya Patra Foundation, Ekta Shakti Foundation, Naandi Foundation, and Jay Gee Humanitarian Society provide mid-day meals.

A study of centralised kitchens in Delhi in 2007 found that even with centralised kitchens, the quality of food needed to be improved. The study also found that when the food arrives and is of inadequate quality, even teachers feel helpless and do not know whom to complain to.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development reported that 95% of tested meal samples prepared by NGOs in Delhi did not meet nutritional standards in 2010–12. In response, the ministry withheld 50% of the payment for the deficient meals.

International assistance

International voluntary and charity organisations have assisted. Church World Service has provided milk powder to Delhi and Madras Municipal Corporation; CARE has provided corn soya meal, Bulgar wheat, and vegetable oils; and UNICEF has provided high proteins foods and educational support. In 1982, ‘Food for Learning’ was launched with assistance from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Initially the programme was aimed at scheduled caste and scheduled tribe girls. In 1983, the federal Department of Education prepared a scheme under the auspices of the World Food Programme to supply meals to 13.6 million scheduled caste girls and 10.09 million scheduled tribe girls in classes one to five in 15 states and three union territories. The value of the food itself was $163.27 million per year. Labour, facilities, and transportation costs were to be paid by the state governments. The reaction among the states and union territories was mixed. Many states were interested, but some were concerned about their ability to afford it if the FAO support were to be withdrawn.

School management and development committee
or Parent Teacher Association.

Monthly and as when it is

required

The government of India Review Missions on Mid Day Meal Scheme, comprising members from the central government, state governments, UNICEF, and the office of the supreme court commissioner was created in 2010 to review the programme and offer suggestions for improvement. The scheme is independently monitored twice a year.

Evaluation of the scheme

The MDM scheme has many potential benefits: attracting children from disadvantaged sections (especially girls, Dalits and Adivasis) to school, improving regularity, nutritional benefits, socialisation benefits and benefits to women are some that have been highlighted.

Studies by economists show that some of these benefits have indeed been realised. The positive effect on enrollment of disadvantaged children (Dreze and Kingdon), on attendance (by Chakraborty, Jayaraman, Pande), on learning effort (by Booruah, Afridi and Somanathan), on improving nutritional inputs (Afridi), on improving nutritional outcomes (by Singh, Dercon and Parker), and so on.

Caste based discrimination continues to occur in the serving of food, though the government seems unwilling to acknowledge this. Sukhdeo Thorat and Joel Lee found in their 2005 study that caste discrimination was occurring in conjunction with the Mid Day Meals programme.

Media reports also document the positive effect of the programme for women, especially working women and its popularity among parents, children and teachers alike. Media reports have also highlighted several implementation issues, including irregularity, corruption, hygiene, caste discrimination, etc. A few such incidents are listed below:

– In December 2005, Delhi police seized eight trucks laden with 2,760 sacks of rice meant for primary school children. The rice was being transported from Food Corporation of India godowns Bulandshahr district to North Delhi. The police stopped the trucks and investigators later discovered that the rice was being stolen by an NGO.

– In November 2006, the residents of Pembong village (30 km from Darjeeling) accused a group of teachers of embezzling midday meals. In a written complaint, the residents claimed that students at the primary school had not received their midday meal for the past year and a half.

– In December 2006, The Times of India reported that school staff were inflating attendance in order to obtain food grains.

– Twenty-three children died in Dharma Sati village in Saran District on 16 July 2013 after eating pesticide-contaminated mid day meals. On 31 July 2013, 55 students at a government middle school fell ill at Kalyuga village in Jamui district after their midday meal provided by an NGO. On the same day, 95 students at Chamandi primary school in Arwal district were ill after their meal.

Criticism

Despite the success of the program, child hunger as a problem persists in India. According to current statistics, 42.5% of the children under 5 are underweight. Some simple health measures such as using iodised salt and getting vaccinations are uncommon in India. “India is home to the world’s largest food insecure population, with more than 500 million people who are hungry”, India State Hunger Index (ISHI) said. Many children don’t get enough to eat, which has far-reaching implications for the performance of the country as a whole. “Its rates of child malnutrition is higher than most countries in Sub-Saharan Africa,” it noted. The 2009 Global Hunger Index ranked India at 65 out of 84 countries. More than 200 million went hungry in India that year, more than any other country in the world. The report states that “improving child nutrition is of utmost urgency in most Indian states”.

National Literacy Mission Programme

National Literacy Mission (NLM)

Country

India

Launched

5 May 1988; 27 years ago

The National Literacy Mission (NLM) is a nationwide program started by Government of India in 1988. It aims to educate 80 million adults in the age group of 15 – 35 over an eighty-year period. By “literacy“, the NLM means not only learning how to read, write and count but also helping people understand why they are deprived and helping them move towards change.

Contents

1 History

2 Funding

3 Working of National Literacy Mission

History

National Literacy Mission (NLM) was set up by the Indian government on 5 May, 1988. NLM works under the guidance of the National Literacy Mission Authority, an independent wing of the Ministry of Human Resources and Development.

NLM initially had two flagship programs – “Total Literacy” and “Post literacy“. The initiative was revitalized on 30 September, 1999, when they were combined as a single program: ‘Literacy Campaigns and Operation Restoration’.

The NLM initiated its first successful campaign in Kottayam city of Kerala followed by Ernakulam district. Up until November 2002, 596 districts out of the total 600 districts of the country had been covered under Total Literacy. 191 were in the post literacy phase while 238 were in the continuing education phase.

In 1999 UNESCO conferred upon it their Noma Literacy Prize. It received jury appreciation for the teaching material it had produced and for raising the awareness of quality primary education in schools.

NLM works with NGOs across the country, providing financial assistance for those that actively participate.

Funding

NLM releases funds for each district. While the ratio between centre and state is 2:1, it is 4:1 for tribal sub-plan districts.

Working of National Literacy Mission

In India, 81% of youths from ages 15–24 and 63% of all adults are illiterate, based on a 2005 – 2010 UNESCO study. However, the 2001 census stated that female literacy is 54.16%.

Nirbhaya Fund

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nirbhaya Fund is a Indian rupee 10 billion corpus announced by Government of India in its 2013 Union Budget. According to the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, this fund is expected to support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India. Nirbhaya (fearless) was the pseudonym given to the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim to hide her actual identity. The Ministry of Women and Child Development, along with several other concerned ministries, will work out details of the structure, scope and the application of this fund.

History

Nirbhaya Fund was announced by the Finance Minister in his 2013 budget speech, with Government contribution of Rs. 1000 Crores for empowerment, safety and security of women and girl children. The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.

Utilization of funds

Various ministries have proposed projects to utilize this fund with a view to enhance the safety and security of women in the country. Some of the ministries which have submitted such proposals are the Ministry of Information Technology, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and Ministry of Railways.

In November 2013, the Ministry of Urban Development asked states to propose and implement new plans that can be financed through the Nirbhaya Fund. The ministry has also notified States and Union Territories who would not get their quotas of new buses under the Jawahar Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission if they fail to put in place steps to make public transport system safe for women.

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan

Country

India

Established

1999

Disestablished

2014

Current status

Succeeded by Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (Hindi: निर्मलभारतअभियान, Nirmal Bhārat Abhiyān, and from 1999 to 2012 called the Total Sanitation Campaign, or TSC) was a programme following the principles of community-led total sanitation (CLTS) initiated by the Government of India in 1999. It was a demand-driven and people-centered sanitation program. It evolved from the limited achievements of the first structured programme for rural sanitation in India, the Central Rural Sanitation Programme, which had minimal community participation and was not following the principles of CLTS. The main goal of Total Sanitation Campaign was to eradicate the practice of open defecation by 2017. Community-led total sanitation was not focused on building infrastructure, but on changing cultural norms to prevent open defecation. In Maharashtra where the program started more than 2000 Gram Panchayats achieved “open defecation free” status.] Villages that achieved this status received monetary rewards and high publicity under a program called Nirmal Gram Puraskar. The campaigning ambassador for Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan is Vidya Balan.

Contents

1 Background

2 Objectives

3 Activities

4 Problems

4.1 Lack of effectiveness in a study of similar methods

Background

Government started the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) in 1986 primarily with the objective of improving the quality of life of the rural people and also to provide privacy and dignity to women.

The concept of sanitation was expanded to include personal hygiene, home sanitation, safe water, garbage disposal, excreta disposal and waste water disposal. With this broader concept of sanitation, CRSP adopted a “demand driven” approach with the name “Total Sanitation Campaign” (TSC) with effect from 1999. The revised approach emphasized more on Information, Education and Communication (IEC), Human Resource Development, Capacity Development activities to increase awareness among the rural people and generation of demand for sanitary facilities. This enhanced people’s capacity to choose appropriate options through alternate delivery mechanisms as per their economic condition. The Programme was implemented with focus on community-led and people centered initiatives. Financial incentives were provided to Below Poverty Line (BPL) households for construction and usage of individual household latrines (IHHL) in recognition of their achievements. Assistance was also extended for construction of school toilet units, Anganwadi toilets and Community Sanitary Complexes (CSC) apart from undertaking activities under Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM).

To give a fillip to the TSC, Government of India also launched the Nirmal Gram Puraskar (NGP) that sought to recognise the achievements and efforts made in ensuring full sanitation coverage. The award gained immense popularity and contributed effectively in bringing about a movement in the community for attaining the Nirmal Status thereby significantly adding to the achievements made for increasing the sanitation coverage in the rural areas of the country.

Encouraged by the success of NGP, the TSC was renamed as “Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan” (NBA) in 2012. The objective is to accelerate the sanitation coverage in the rural areas so as to comprehensively cover the rural community through renewed strategies and saturation approach.

Objectives

Bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas.

Accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas to achieve the vision of Nirmal Bharat by 2022 with all gram Panchayats in the country attaining Nirmal status.

To cover the remaining schools not covered under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Anganwadi Centres in the rural areas with proper sanitation facilities and undertake proactive promotion of hygiene education and sanitary habits among students.

Activities

Major activities covered under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan were:

Construction of individual household latrines for which the enhanced incentive for individual household latrine units has been extended to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) Households and Above Poverty Line Households (APL) restricted to SCs/STs, small and marginal farmers, landless labourers with homestead, physically handicapped and women headed households.

Convergence with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for additional financial assistance.Provision of sanitation facilities in Government Schools and Anganwadis in Government buildings.

Assistance to Production Centres of sanitary materials and Rural Sanitary Marts, Provision of construction of Community Sanitary Complexes.

Solid and Liquid Waste management (SLWM) to be taken up in project mode for each Gram Panchayat (GP) with financial assistance capped for a GP on the basis of number of household to enable all Panchayats to implement sustainable SLWM projects.

Provision of extensive capacity building of the stake holders like Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSCs) and field functionaries for sustainable sanitation.

Problems

Lack of effectiveness in a study of similar methods

A randomized study of eighty villages in rural (Madhya Pradesh) was conducted to determine if India’s Total Sanitation Campaign’s (TSC) effort to eliminate open defecation was effective in reducing diarrhea and other gastrointestinal diseases in children. Results showed that the TSC programme did modestly increase the number of households with latrines, and had a small effect in reducing open defecation. However, there was no improvement in the health of children. Although the authors point out that their results are limited as to place (rural Madhya Pradesh), type of intervention (TSC), and type of measures (self-reported open defecation and child health), they conclude: “these findings highlight the challenges associated with achieving large enough improvement in access to sanitation and correspondingly large reductions in the practice of open defecation to deliver health benefits within large-scale rural sanitation programs.” However, this study may not be used to judge the effectiveness of community-led total sanitation (CLTS) overall, as the presence of subsidies may fundamentally change the effectiveness of the process.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

प्रधानमंत्रीजन–धनयोजना

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Ministry

Finance

Key people

Arun Jaitley

Launched

28 August 2014; 18 months ago

Status: Active

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (IPA: Pradhān Mantrī Jana Dhan Yōjanā) (Hindi: प्रधानमंत्री जन धन योजना, English: Prime Minister’s People Money Scheme) (PMJDY) is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely Banking Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner. This financial inclusion campaign was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014 He had announced this scheme on his first Independence Day speech on 15 August 2014.

Run by Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, on the inauguration day, 1.5 Crore (15 million) bank accounts were opened under this scheme. Guinness World Records Recognises the Achievements made under PMJDY, Guinness World Records Certificate says “The most bank accounts opened in 1 week as a part of financial inclusion campaign is 18,096,130 and was achieved by Banks in India from 23 to 29 August 2014”. By 10 February 2016, over 20 crore (200 million) bank accounts were opened and ₹323.78 billion (US$4.8 billion) were deposited under the scheme.

In a run up to the formal launch of this scheme, the Prime Minister personally mailed to Chairmans of all PSU banks to gear up for the gigantic task of enrolling over 7.5 crore (75 million) households and to open their accounts. In this email he categorically declared that a bank account for each household was a “national priority”.

The scheme has been started with a target to provide ‘universal and clear access to banking facilities’ starting with “Basic Banking Accounts” with overdraft facility of ₹5,000 (US$74) after six months and RuPay Debit card with inbuilt accident insurance cover of ₹1 lakh (US$1,500) and RuPay Kisan Card. In next phase, micro insurance & pension etc. will also be added. Under the scheme:

Account holders will be provided zero-balance bank account with RuPay debit card, in addition to accidental insurance cover of ₹1 lakh (US$1,500) (to be given by ‘HDFC Ergo’).

Those who open accounts by 26 January 2015 over and above the ₹1 lakh (US$1,500) accident claim will also be given life insurance cover of ₹30,000 (US$450) (to be given by LIC).

After Six months of opening of the bank account, holders can avail ₹5,000 (US$74) overdraft from the bank.

With the introduction of new technology introduced by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a person can transfer funds, check balance through a normal phone which was earlier limited only to smart phones so far.

Mobile banking for the poor would be available through National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP) for which all banks and mobile companies have come together

Performance

Arun Jaitley holding a press conference to announce a record number of 11.50 crore bank accounts opened under PMJDY

Due to the preparations done in the run-up, as mentioned above, on the inauguration day, 1.5 Crore (15 million) bank accounts were opened. The Prime Minister said on this occasion- “Let us celebrate today as the day of financial freedom.” By September 2014, 3.02 crore accounts were opened under the scheme, amongst Public sector banks, SBI had opened 30 lakh (3 million) accounts, followed by Punjab National Bank with 20.24 lakh (2 million) accounts, Canara Bank 16.21 lakh (1.62 million) accounts, Central Bank of India 15.98 lakh (1.59 million) accounts and Bank of Baroda with 14.22 lakh (1.42 million) accounts. It was reported that total of 7 Crore (70 million) bank accounts have been opened with deposits totaling more than ₹50 billion (US$740 million) as of 6 November 2014. As the government met the target, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has revised the target for opening of bank accounts under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the ambitious financial inclusion scheme launched by the government, from 7.5 crore to 10 crore by 26 January 2015. On 20 January 2015, the scheme entered into Guinness book of world records setting new record for ‘The most bank accounts opened in one week’.

Criticism

The scheme has been criticized by opposition as an effort to please voters that has created unnecessary work-burden on the public-sector banks. it has been claimed that the poor deserves food more than bank accounts and financial security. Further, these accounts have not yet added considerable profits to PSU banks. According to the experts, offers like zero balance, free insurance and overdraft facility would result in duplication. Many individuals who already have bank accounts may have had accounts created for themselves, lured by the insurance covers and overdraft facilities. As per the scheme, a very few people are eligible to get the life insurance worth ₹30,000 (US$450) with a validity of just five years. However, these ‘secret’ conditions were not shown in the TV advertisements of the scheme. The claimed overdraft facility has been completely left upon the banks. As per the government notice, only those people would get the overdraft facility whose transaction record is satisfactory and financially.

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Launched

9 May 2015; 10 months ago

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is a government-backed Life insurance scheme in India. It was originally mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February 2015. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata. As of May 2015, only 20% of India’s population has any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number.

Contents

1 Overview

2 Criticism

Overview

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 50 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹330 (US$4.90) excluding service tax, which is above 14% of the premium. The amount will be automatically debited from the account. In case of death due to any cause, the payment to the nominee will be ₹2 lakh (US$3,000). This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Most of these account had zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts by using this and related schemes.

Criticism

The banks have complained that revenue received will be very low. Some bankers have claimed that amount they are receiving is not sufficient to cover the service costs. Since this is a group insurance scheme, banks have not received instruction regarding cases where excessive claims are in a year. Insurers have also pointed out that no health certificate or information of pre-existing Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

.

प्रधानमंत्रीमुद्रायोजना

Narendra Modi at launch of Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Launched

8 April 2015; 11 months ago

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY; Hindi: प्रधानमंत्री मुद्रा योजना) under the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) Bank is a new institution being set up by Government of India for development and refinancing activities relating to micro units. It was announced by the Finance Minister while presenting the Union Budget for FY 2016. The purpose of MUDRA is to provide funding to the non corporate small business sector. Loans worth about Rs 1 lakh crore have been sanctioned to small entrepreneurs under the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today, emphasising that the government wants youth to be job creators and not job seekers.

Contents

1 Objectives

2 Performance

Objectives

Under the scheme, Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana three categories of interventions has been named which includes

Shishu:- Loan up to ₹50,000 (US$740)

Kishore:- Loan ranging from ₹50,000 (US$740) to ₹5 lakh (US$7,400)

Tarun:- Loan above ₹5 lakh (US$7,400) and below ₹10 lakh (US$15,000)

These three categories will signify the growth, development and funding needs of the beneficiaries as well as it will assure the loan amount to be allotted by Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Bank.

Performance

Under this scheme, according to MoneyControl.com, nearly 1,65,000 people avail the over-drafting facility where the government mobilised US$ 157,400,000 for this scheme by 1 September 2015. As of 26th of Sep 2015, Banks have already disbursed ₹240 billion (US$3.6 billion) to 27 lakh small entrepreneurs under this scheme.

disease is required for joining.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Ministry

Finance

Key people

Arun Jaitley

Launched

9 May 2015; 10 months ago

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is a government-backed accident insurance scheme in India. It was originally mentioned in the 2015 Budget speech by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in February 2015. It was formally launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9 May in Kolkata. As of May 2015, only 20% of India’s population has any kind of insurance, this scheme aims to increase the number.

Contents

1 Overview

2 Criticism

3 Mode of payment of premium

4 Termination of benefit cover

Overview

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana is available to people between 18 and 70 years of age with bank accounts. It has an annual premium of ₹12 (18¢ US) excluding service tax, which is about 14% of the premium. The amount will be automatically debited from the account. In case of accidental death or full disability, the payment to the nominee will be ₹2 lakh (US$3,000) and in case of partial Permanent disability ₹1 lakh (US$1,500). Full disability has been defined as loss of use in both eyes, hands or feet. Partial Permanent disability has been defined as loss of use in one eye, hand or foot. This scheme will be linked to the bank accounts opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana scheme. Most of these account had zero balance initially. The government aims to reduce the number of such zero balance accounts by using this and related schemes

Criticism

Private banks have complained that the Government should focus on upper middle class instead of the poorer section. Western scholars and Congress have argued that financial inclusion is a myth and serving such large number of people would only increase the burden and work-load of public sector.

Mode of payment of premium

The premium amount will be deducted from the account holder’s savings bank account through ‘auto debit’ facility in one installment for the entire year, as per the option to be given on enrollment. Members may also give one-time mandate for auto-debit every year till the scheme is in force, subject to re-calibration that may be deemed necessary on review of experience of the scheme from year to year

Termination of benefit cover

In following cases the cover will be terminated and no benefit will be payable to the subcribers.

On attaining age 70 years or the age nearest birth day

At the time of renewal in subsequent years,due to insufficiency of balance to keep the insurance in force the account gets closed.

In case a subscriber is covered by more than one account and premium is paid by the subscriber intentionally, insurance cover will be restricted to one only and the premium shall be liable to be forfeited.

If the insurance cover is ceased due to any technical reasons such as insufficient balance on due date or due to any administrative issues, the same can be reinstated on receipt of full annual premium, subject to conditions that are to be issued in future. During this period, the risk cover will be” suspended” and reinstatement of risk cover will be at the sole discretion of Insurance Company.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana Participating banks will deduct the premium amount in the same month when the auto debit option is given, preferably in May of every year, and remit the amount due to the Insurance Company in that month itself.

Results

124,738,419 people i.e. 124 millions Indians have already enrolled for this scheme as of 2nd February, 2016.

Swavalamban

Swavalamban

Country

India

Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh

Launched

2010-11

Swavalamban Yojana was a government-backed pension scheme targeted at the unorganised sector in India. It was applicable to all citizens in the unorganised sector who joined the National Pension Scheme (NPS) administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Act 2013. Under the scheme, the Government of India contributed ₹1000 (US$15) per year to each NPS account opened in the year 2010-11 and for the next three years, that is, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14. The benefit was available only to people who joined the NPS with a minimum contribution of ₹1000 (US$15) and maximum contribution of ₹12000 (US$180) per annum.

The scheme was announced by the Finance Minister in Budget 2010-11. It was funded by grants from the Government of India.

This scheme has been replaced with Atal Pension Yojana, in which all subscribing workers below the age of 40 are eligible for pension of up to ₹5000 (US$74) per month on attainment of 60 years of age.

National Pension Scheme

National Pension Scheme (NPS)

Country

India

The National Pension System (NPS) is a defined-contribution pension system operated by the Government of India. In 2004, the Government of India decided to move from a defined-benefit pension system to a defined-contribution pension system. Apart from offering a range of investment options to employees, the scheme allows individuals to make decisions about where their pension fund is invested, permits limited withdrawal prior to retirement and reduces the total pension liabilities of the Government of India. The scheme is structured in two tiers. A tier-1 account is a basic retirement pension account available to all citizens from 1 May 2009. It does not permit withdrawal of funds before retirement. A tier-2 account is a Prospective payment system (PPS) account that permits some withdrawal of pension prior to retirement under exceptional circumstances, usually related to the provision of health care.

Contents

1 Regulations

2 Coverage and eligibility

3 Contribution guidelines

4 Investment options

5 Investment charges

6 Withdrawal norms

7 Tax treatment

8 Past investment returns

Regulations

Main article: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority

The pension scheme is administered on behalf of the government by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority india (PFRDA).

Coverage and eligibility

NPS is open to all citizens of India between the ages of 18 and 60 on a voluntary basis

It is a voluntary, defined contribution retirement savings scheme designed to enable the subscribers to make optimum decisions regarding their future through systematic savings during their working life. The employee contribution is fixed at 10% per month which is matched by an employer contribution of the same amount.

Central and state government employees along with Public Sector employees mandatory contributing in National Pension Scheme are restricted from availing any other form of pension scheme initiated by government of India.

Contribution guidelines

PFRDA has set the following guidelines with regard to subscriber contribution:

Minimum amount per contribution: Rs. 500

Minimum number of contributions: 1 per year

Minimum annual contribution: Rs 6,000 in each subscriber account.

The minimum contribution is Rs. 6,000 per year. There is no limit on maximum contribution.But whatever amount you invest in the scheme ,only 50000 is maximum allowed to deduction under section 80CCD of the Income Tax Act,1961.This proposes to give NPS,an additional tax benefit on investments of up to Rs 50,000 a year, over and above Rs. 1.5 lakh a year under section 80C, for financial year 2015-16.

Investment options

Under the investment guidelines finalized for the NPS, pension funds are invested in three separate asset classes. The three asset classes are equity (E), government securities (G) and a corporate debt (C). Subscribers are able to decide how their NPS pension fund is allocated across the three asset classes.

In case the subscriber does not exercise any choice with regard to asset allocation, the contribution is invested in accordance with the ‘Auto choice’ option. In this option, the investment is determined by a predefined template that allocates funds according to the average expectation of investors at different stages of their life. The basic assumption, in line with industry guidelines, is that young people can afford to make riskier investments but security of return becomes more important as retirement approaches.

The other option for a subscriber is to invest as per his ‘Active Choice’ which allows him to allocate his investments across the 3 asset classes. As a conservative investor, one can invest his complete pension wealth in C and G asset classes. However, if one wants to have an exposure to equity, then he can allocate a maximum of 50% of his assets to the asset class E.

There is a requirement for subscribers who leave the scheme before retirement (or age 60, whichever is the earlier) to invest 80% of their accumulated savings in a life annuity from a life insurance company approved by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). The remaining 20% is eligible for withdrawal as a lump sum.

On retirement, at age 60, subscribers are required to invest at least 40% of their pension fund in an annuity and the remaining 60% can be redeemed as a lump sum. In the case of government employees, the annuity provides for pension for the lifetime of the employee and his dependent parents and spouse at the time of retirement.

Subscribers may remain in the scheme after their 60th birthday for the purpose of receiving interest on their account, but may not make further contributions after that date. If a subscriber does not exit the system on or before their 70th birthday, the account is closed and the benefits are transferred to the subscriber as a lump sum. If a subscriber dies, the nominee has the option to receive the account total as a lump sum.

Tax treatment

The scheme permits subscribers to benefit, as applicable, under the Income Tax Act (1961). As of 2015, this means that up to a variable limit, contributions to the scheme are tax-exempt, but that withdrawals are counted as taxable income (EET). These tax benefits apply to all contributions, including those made by employers. From tax year 2012-13, employers contributions and employee contributions have been treated separately for tax purposes, an arrangement that permits employer contributions to rise without affecting employee tax liability. From the A.Y. 2015-16 NPS contribution are exempted from tax up to 50 thousand under sub-section 80CCD(1B). This is over and above the deduction of Rs 1.5 Lakh available under section 80 CCE of Income Tax Act 1961. This is an exclusive tax deduction available only for investment under NPS and not available under any other investment.

For subscribers from Corporate Sector, under 80CCD(2) of the Income Tax Act, the employer’s NPS contribution (towards the employee as part of CTC) upto 10% of salary (Basic + DA), without any monetary limit is also deductible from taxable income (CTC) in addition to the above mentioned benefits.

Past investment returns

In 2014–15, the average weighted return on the fund was 12%. As of 15 May 2014, return on investment for private sector employees who opted for Equities was 8.38%. During tax year 2013-14, the eight pension funds used for central government employees showed returns of between 8% and 14%. However, during the year 2015-16, the returns were between -3% and -8%.

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana

Country

India

Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Ministry

MoRD

Launched

1 April 1999; 16 years ago

Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) is an initiative launched by the Government of India to provide sustainable income to poorest poor people living in rural & urban areas of the country. The scheme was launched on April 1, 1999.

The SGSY aims at providing self-employment to villagers through the establishment of self-help groups. Activity clusters are established based on the aptitude and skill of the people which are nurtured to their maximum potential. Funds are provided by NGOs, banks and financial institutions.

Since its inception, over 2.25 million Self-help groups have been established with an investment of ₹14403 crore (US$2.1 billion), profiting over 6.697 million people.

The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) was launched as an integrated programme for self-employment of the rural poor with effect from April

Contents

1 Working of the scheme

2 Funding

3 Results

Working of the scheme

The SGSY was somewhat intended to provide self-employment to millions of villagers. Poor families living below the poverty line were organised into Self-help groups (SHG)s established with a mixture of government subsidy and credit from investment banks. The main aim of these SHGs was to bring these poor families above the poverty line and concentrate on income generation through combined effort. The scheme recommended the establishment of activity clusters or clusters of villagers grouped together based on their skills and abilities. Each of these activity clusters worked on a specific activity chosen based on the aptitude and skill of the people, availability of resources and market potentiality.

The SHGs are aided, supported and trained by NGOs, CBOs, individuals, banks and self-help promoting institutions. Government-run District Level Development Agencies (DRDA) and the respective State governments also provided training and financial aid. The programme focuses on establishing microenterprises in rural areas.

The SHGs created may have a varying number of members based on the terrain and physical abilities of the members. It goes through three stages of creation:

Group formation

Capital formation through the revolving fund and skill development and

Taking up of economic activity for skill generation.

The SHGs are usually created by selecting individuals from the Below poverty-line (BPL) list provided by the Gram sabha. The SHGs are divided into various blocks and each of these blocks concentrated on 4-5 key activities. The SGSY is mainly run through government-run DRDAs with support from local private institutions, banks and Panchayati raj institutions.

The Government also assists villagers in marketing their products by organizing melas or fairs, exhibitions,, etc.

The Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY) has been renamed as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).With this the scheme will be made universal, more focussed and time bound for poverty alleviation by 2014:

Funding

Government provide funds as per individual is 30% of the total capital investment if the total investment is less than Rs. 7,500 and 50% of the investment for SC/STs if the investment is less than Rs.10,000. For self-help groups, the government offers a subsidy of 50% if the total investment is less than Rs. 1.25 lakhs. There are no monetary ceilings on subsidy in the case of irrigation projects.

The SGSY concentrates on the marginalized sections of society. Accordingly, SC/STs comprise 50 percent, women 40% and the physically challenged make up 3% of the total beneficiaries from the scheme.

Government funding for the scheme is divided between the Center and State on a 75-25 basis.

Results

Since its inception in 1999, around 2.252 million SHGs have been established comprising 3.554 million people. Apart from SHGs, the scheme has also benefitted 3.143 million self-employed individuals. The total investment provided for the cause has been calculated at Rs. 14,403.73 crores including Rs. 1,200 crores provided by the Government of India for the calendar year 2006-07. Of the beneficiaries, 45.54 percent have been SC/STs and 47.85 percent, women.

Physical and Financial progress since inception

1999-2000

2000-2001

2001-2002

Total

Financial progress (in crores)

Total Government allocation

1472.33

1332.50

774.50

3579.33

Total funds available

1907.68

1518.40

1054.77

4480.85

Total funds utilized

959.86

1116.27

499.96

2576.09

Physical progress

Self-help groups formed

292,426

492,664

742,354

742,354

Individual Beneficiaries

585,956

687,602

300,700

1,574,258

Members of SHGs benefitted

347,912

342,871

179,251

870,034

Total swarozgaris assisted

933,868

1,030,473

479,951

2,444,292

Welfare schemes for women in India

Under Article 15(3), the Constitution of India allows for positive discrimination in favour of kli . The article, under right to equality, states: “Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.” In addition, the directive principles of State Policy 39(a) state that: “The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood.”

The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (National Credit Fund for Women) was set up in 1993 to make credit available for lower income women in India. More recent programmes initiated by the Government of India include the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS), the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana Conditional Maternity Benefit plan (CMB), and the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls – Sabla.

The Mother and Child Tracking System, launched in 2009, helps monitor the health care system to ensure that all mothers and their children have access to a range of services, including pregnancy care, medical care during delivery, and immunizations. The system consists of a database of all pregnancies registered at health care facilities since 1 December 2009, and all births since 1 December 2009.

Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), Conditional Maternity Benefit (CMB) is a scheme sponsored by the national government for pregnant and lactating women age 19 and over for their first two live births. The programme, which began in October 2010, provides money to help ensure the good health and nutrition of the recipients. As of March 2013 the programme is being offered in 53 districts around the country.

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls – Sabla

The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls – Sabla is an initiative launched in 2012 that targets adolescent girls. The scheme offers a package of benefits to at-risk girls between the ages of 10 and 19. It is being offered initially as a pilot programme in 200 districts. The programme offers a variety of services to help young women become self-reliant, including nutritional supplementation and education, health education and services, and life skills and vocational training.

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh

Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (The National Credit Fund for Women) was created by the Government of India in 1993. Its purpose is to provide lower income women with access to loans to begin small businesses .

Priyadarshini

Priyadarshini, initiated in April 2011, is a programme that offers women in seven districts access to self-help groups.<ref name=”Economic program THIS SCHEME IS BEING PURSUED BY GOVT.

Sukanya Samriddhi Account

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Launched

22 January 2015; 13 months ago

Sukanya Samriddhi Account (literally Girl Child Prosperity Account) in a Government of India backed saving scheme targeted at the parents of girl children. The scheme encourages parents to build a fund for the future education and marriage expenses for their female child. The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 January 2015 as a part of the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao campaign. The scheme currently provides an interest rate of 9.2% and tax benefits. The account can be opened at any India Post office or a branch of some authorised commercial banks.

Contents

1 Summary

1.1 Tax benefits

2 Reception

Summary

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 January 2015 in Panipat, Haryana.[4][5] The accounts can be opened at any India Post office or a branch of some authorised commercial banks. Initially, the interest rate was set at 9.1% but later revised to 9.25 in late March 2015.

The account can be opened anytime between the birth of a girl child and the time she attains 10 years age by the guardian. Only one account is allowed per child. Parents can open a maximum of two accounts for each of their children (exception allowed for twins and triplets). The account can be transferred to anywhere in India.

A minimum of ₹1,000 must be deposited in the account annually. The maximum deposit limit is ₹1,50,000. If the minimum deposit is not made in a year, a fine of ₹50 will be levied. The girl can operate her account after she reaches the age of 10. The account allows 50% withdrawal at the age of 18 for higher education purposes. The account reaches maturity at the age of 21. If the account is not closed, then it will continue to earn interest at the prevailing rate. If the girl is over 18 and married, normal closure is allowed.

Tax benefits

At the time of launch, only the deposits in the account were eligible for tax deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, which is ₹1,50,000 in 2015-16. However, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced, during the 2015 Union Budget, tax exemption on the interest from the account and on withdrawal from the fund after maturity, making the tax benefits similar to that of the Public Provident Fund. These changes were applied retrospectively from 1 April 2015. These benefits will be reassessed annually.

Summary of revisions

Serial Number

Financial Year

Date Range

Interest Rate

Minimum Investment

Maximum Investment

1

2014-15

01 April 2014 to 31 March 2015

9.1%

₹1,000

₹1,50,000

2

2015-16

01 April 2015 to 31 March 2016

9.2%

₹1,000

₹1,50,000

3

2016-17

01 April 2016 to Next revision

8.6%

₹1,000

₹1,50,000

Reception

By mid-March 2015, within 2 months of launch, 1,80,000 accounts had been opened under the scheme. Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh reported highest number of new accounts. The number of accounts opened up to October, 2015 under Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana across the country is 76,19,668. The impact is that 76,19,668 girl children got Rs. 2838.73 crore deposited in their name.

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

सांसदआदर्शग्रामयोजना

PM Modi in Jayapur village in Varanasi for Saansad Adarsh Gram

Country

India

Prime Minister

Narendra Modi

Launched

11 October 2014; 17 months ago

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (सांसद आदर्श ग्राम योजना , abbr.: SAGY) is a rural development programme broadly focusing upon the development in the villages which includes social development, cultural development and spread motivation among the people on social mobilization of the village community. The programme was launched by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi on the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Narayan, on 11 October 2014.

The distinct feature of this Yojana is that it is (a) demand driven (b) inspired by society (c) based on people’s participation.

Contents

1 Objectives

2 The plan

3 Funding

4 Roles and responsibilities of key functionaries

5 Strategies

6 Adopting Villages

Objectives

Key objectives of the Yojana include:

The development of model villages, called Adarsh Grams, through the implementation of existing schemes, and certain new initiatives to be designed for the local context, which may vary from village to village.

Creating models of local development which can be replicated in other villages.

The plan

Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana was initiated to bring the member of parliament of all the political parties under the same umbrella while taking the responsibility of developing physical and institutional infrastructure in villages and turn them into model villages. Under this scheme, each member of parliament needs to choose one village each from the constituency that they represent, except their own village or their in-laws village and fix parameters and make it a model village by 2016.

Thereafter, they can take on two or three more villages and do the same by the time the next general elections come along in 2019, and thereafter, set themselves ten-year-long village or rural improvement projects. Villages will be offered smart schools, universal access to basic health facilities and Pucca housing to homeless villagers.

Funding

No new funds are allocated to this Yojana and funds may be raised through :

Under the scheme, Narendra Modi has adopted Jayapur village from his constituency Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Y. S. Chowdary has adopted Ponnavaram village in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh. Sonia Gandhi adopted Udwa village in her constituency Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. Rahul Gandhi adopted Deeh village in his constituency Amethi in Uttar Pradesh. V. K. Singh adopted Mirpur Hindu in his constituency Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Ahmed Patel adopted Vandari village in Rajpipada, Gujarat.

Sachin Tendulkar adopted Puttamraju vari Kandriga(P.R.Kandriga) a village near Gudur in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.